Ch.386Starlight-Soaked Past. Meteor Crater (3)

“I’m sorry for this kind of meeting. But I couldn’t hold back any longer…”

“Hold back what?”

“Meeting with a divine being. Unfortunately, it seems my communication devices aren’t compatible with those on the surface… I sent thousands of transmissions, but the most progress I made was someone saying ‘I keep hearing static.’ All this time, I’ve been watching. Trapped underground for a million years. Waiting for someone like you to arrive.”

“…What are you? The last Homo sapiens? Are you an Earthling? Did you live during the Age of Stars?”

“The Age of Stars…? Ah… So it’s already been given such a name…”

The old man, suspended in mechanical apparatus, extended the machine forward to face Victor directly. Only then did Victor realize that the old man’s life depended on this machine.

A body so frail that even a newborn’s touch could strip away muscle… His appearance could hardly be described as human-like.

“I apologize for this unsightly appearance. But I’ve been awake for a million years, and with my body in this state, I couldn’t exactly dress up. I’d appreciate your understanding.”

“What are those liquids? The ones flowing through the pipes…”

“Ah. This?”

The old man moved one of the mechanical tentacles, placing blue-tinted water on his palm.

Strangely, within the water were incredibly tiny semiconductors and conductors. Data contained within was actively moving through nanomites—this was no longer water but more like ultra-small machines operating on moisture.

“We called this liquid conductor. Well, I should say we used to call it that. Judging by your reaction, it’s not used on the surface?”

“That’s right. Is this a legacy from the Age of Stars?”

“It was cutting-edge technology back then. Used exclusively to maintain beings like myself.”

“…Beings like you?”

“EVERMIND. We were created to continuously protect and preserve all knowledge humanity had created, was creating, and would create. The most brilliant scientists were selected and voluntarily entrusted their life support to this cybernetic equipment. And… eons have passed. To be honest, I wasn’t even awake for 900,000 years. The facility was too severely damaged, so I had to wait until the information conductors could self-repair.”

“Even so, that still leaves 100,000 years. Why didn’t you contact the Empire?”

“I couldn’t. I had too little information to even understand what was happening in the vicinity. I only detected your presence because continuous excavation kept lowering the layers of debris and fragments above the facility.”

“Layer of fragments… How far down have I come from the surface? The altitude of the pit I was standing in was definitely 12km underground…”

“12km???”

When Victor said this, the old man gasped in shock, breathing rapidly.

“What’s so surprising about that? Did you think it was higher?”

“No… I just didn’t expect the metric system would still be in use.”

“Ah…”

Come to think of it, Victor knew scientists were sensitive about units of measurement, but he never imagined the metric system dated back more than a million years.

Since most modern things originated from the ancient Empire, he had assumed the metric system was undoubtedly an Imperial legacy. Who would have thought it was a venerable system of measurement dating back to the Age of Stars?

“By the way… what was that?”

“What do you mean?”

“What you used to bind me when bringing me down. Even I, the master of Radiance, couldn’t interfere with it at all.”

“Ah… that… This is it.”

The old man extended a pair of mechanical tentacles and simultaneously fired lasers, creating a line of light between them.

Gradually, the light transformed three-dimensionally, becoming a solid rectangular prism that fell to the ground in its luminous form. Victor could only gasp in astonishment.

“What… is this???”

“Hard light. You could call it solidified light. The god of Radiance… I suppose you must be what people call the ‘God of the Sun’?”

“Light that allows physical interference? Is such a thing possible through science? But how…?!?”

Including the Dark Age and the Age of Stars, Victor already knew he couldn’t interfere with artifacts from eras when the concept of the sun didn’t exist, so that wasn’t particularly shocking.

But hard light? Solidified light? He had never heard of such a thing.

Light that the master of Radiance couldn’t interfere with—this was a tremendous concept that could shake the very foundation of his existence.

“Why… why did you become extinct despite having such incredible technology?”

“Because we couldn’t control our own desires. Until our misguided desires awakened an evil god that shattered the world, we neither noticed nor reflected. Eventually, we Everminds in orbit fell into dimensional rifts along with the solar system as it was torn to pieces, and more than a million years have passed.”

“…How advanced was the Age of Stars?”

“Advanced! It would be faster to tell you what wasn’t advanced! Can you imagine a person being able to live from birth to death without any effort? With comfortable beds, AI sex dolls, electronic drugs, virtual reality games, and stimulating foods full of additives?”

“Hmm…”

Honestly, the former was hard to believe, but the latter was quite believable.

The artifacts from the Dark Age constantly revealed glimpses of the brilliant technologies that existed during the Age of Stars but were subsequently lost.

Even now, if one had money, enjoying such pleasures wasn’t particularly difficult.

It might be impossible in rural areas, but in developed places like Heart Cities, one could enjoy such a decadent life until their money ran out.

“How could evil flourish in such an advanced civilization? They say generosity comes from a full storehouse. With technology that allowed people to live without effort, why…”

“It’s about relative deprivation. Think about it. Between those who live on unearned income without effort and those who divide their time to do many tasks—it’s clear which person society would allocate more resources to. And the next in line is… well, you’re a god, so you must know?”

“Good grief.”

Victor sat down, clutching his head.

The devastating fact that modern humans had not developed internally at all compared to the ancients from a million years ago tormented him even more.

He couldn’t deny the fact that despite unlimited provision of food, clothing, shelter, and even pleasure, they couldn’t overcome their instincts and engaged in vile speculation until they destroyed their entire species. This was incredibly painful for someone who had to lead his own kind.

“Show me…”

“Show you what?”

“The end of your era.”

The old man groaned while suspended in the mechanical device, then heavily nodded and unified all the surrounding monitor screens.

Victor then realized that these monitors weren’t LCD screens but holographic projectors.

The displayed image showed a massive human figure, simultaneously a god created by humans.

But it was far from benevolent—it aimed a spear at Earth with a crimson smile, a spear that concentrated all the world’s evil and humanity’s malice. The condensed wickedness was so immense it could be felt beyond the screen.

Then the spear pierced the Earth, and instantly the seas were pushed beyond orbit by the shockwave, freezing, and even the frozen seawater was pulled into the opened dimensional rift, dragged into a terrible void.

What could be seen were fragments of Earth being pulled into a dark purple dimensional scar, and the gradual absorption of the physical universe into the dimensional rift. Mars, Venus, Mercury, even the Sun was devoured.

[NO SIGNAL.]

No signal.

Could these words ever sound so chilling? The fact that a god who mercilessly tore apart a world was ultimately the collective will of humanity was a horrifying parable to Victor.

Since he was the sum of humanity and human will, the power he wielded was humanity’s desire, and his authority was the sum of public opinion. If he became corrupt, humanity would become corrupt, and if humanity became corrupt, so would he.

It was frightening, terrifying, and horrifying.

Victor realized that the concepts of domination and reign could be such dreadful notions.

“…Are you alright?”

“No…”

“Understandable… I wish I could offer you something… but unfortunately, I have nothing. When you have the strength to talk again, please speak up.”

Victor could only despair and lament.

If humanity desired its own extinction… he would have no choice but to become the embodiment of that extinction.