Age of Cataclysm: I can light up the technology tree

The orange-red sun hangs in a corner of the sky.

A new standard day has arrived.

The light and heat pass through the thick atmosphere and sprinkle on the sparkling methane sea.

The surrounding temperature begins to rise slowly, and a little "fog" gradually rises on the sea surface.

A creature with a pale yellow body and a shape similar to the umbrella of a jellyfish slowly emerges from the sea.

After briefly looking up at the huge fireball that spreads light and heat around, it turns its attention to the "giant" hanging on the horizon, occupying half of the sky.

Since the birth of their civilization, this "giant" has always occupied a corner of the sky.

It is a huge, orange sphere.

There is a huge ring around the sphere.

Looking closely, there are circles of striped color bands of different colors on this huge sphere.

It floats on the sea, staring at this "giant", and slowly swings its elastic body following the surrounding waves.

This is a dance to pay respect to the gods and to pray.

In their culture, this "giant" that has been hanging high in the corner of the sky is the temple where the gods live.

The dance lasted for a long time.

When the whole dance ended, it hurriedly dived into the sea - although there was no danger to its life, the temperature on the sea surface still made it feel a little uncomfortable with its body swelling.

Feeling the cool sea water around it and the gradually disappearing swelling feeling, it couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The routine prayer ceremony on every standard day and standard night is the time when accidents are most likely to occur.

Especially the prayer ceremony on the standard day.

Once the best time to float up is missed, there may be a risk of life - it once saw a fellow tribesman whose body continued to swell until it exploded during the prayer process.

The pale yellow body fluid and body debris evenly covered the sea surface.

What a horrible scene it was.

Because of this.

Every time it was its turn to perform the routine prayer ceremony, it would float up in advance to avoid accidents.

Fortunately.

The next prayer ceremony on the standard day will be conducted by a different person.

It muttered to itself as it dived deeper into the ocean.

…

Through the not-so-wide passage, it successfully reached the area where the tribe lived and gathered—the Inland Sea.

A slightly larger fellow tribesman slowly floated toward it and asked it.

That was the tribe leader.

The content of the inquiry was naturally about the details of this prayer ceremony.

It vibrated its vocal organs and reported to the tribe leader what it saw and heard during this prayer ceremony.

Halfway through the report, it suddenly hesitated.

There was a discovery that it didn't know whether it should report.

The tribe leader urged it.

Helplessly, it could only tell its discovery truthfully.

[The temperature on the standard day seemed to be a little higher than before. ]

The moment the voice fell, the tribe leader fell into silence.

Not only the tribe leader, but also the tribesmen around him fell into silence.

After a long time, the tribe leader responded.

[Are you sure this is not an illusion? 】

Just as it was about to continue speaking, the tribesmen on the side all made voices of agreement.

[It should be true! I felt something was wrong during the last routine prayer! ]

[Now that you mention it, I seem to have a similar feeling...]

[Chief, I suggest canceling the prayer ceremony on the standard day and only retaining the prayer on the standard night...]

[...]

For a while, the ocean was filled with the "gurgling" sounds of jellyfish.

Every sound would make the chief feel a little worse.

[Be quiet! ]

The chief made a sound of stopping him in anger.

[It's just a feeling! ]

[The prayer ceremony must not be canceled! ]

[Have you forgotten the punishment of extinction from the gods? ! ]

The voice fell.

The noisy "gurgling" sounds around stopped abruptly.

Each tribe member's body contracted to varying degrees - a symbol of fear and horror.

The gods destroyed the world.

It was a major event recorded in the history of civilization.

In ancient times, the gods were furious because they lacked the necessary respect for them.

The gods left the temple, descended into the world they lived in, and launched a annihilation operation that lasted for several standard days and nights.

The gods used high temperatures as weapons to kill more than 99% of life!

Although most of them were individuals with low intelligence that had not yet evolved completely, this still had a great impact on the development of civilization.

After the annihilation, almost only jellyfish with higher intelligence remained in the ocean.

The population also dropped sharply to 3,000.

Since then, the jellyfish began to pray to the gods in an organized manner, asking for forgiveness and protection from the gods.

It's true.

Since they began the prayer ceremony day after day, the gods living in the temple have never sent down the punishment of annihilation.

Just when the jellyfish were immersed in fear and terror, a slightly larger jellyfish slowly swam over from a distance.

[Chief, in recent times, the prayer ceremony on standard days has caused the deaths of three tribesmen. 】

Hearing these words, the patriarch's expression suddenly became ugly.

Prayer is dangerous.

But three tribesmen died in a short period of time, and the mortality rate was obviously higher than the normal level!

This is a bad sign.

Its body swayed slowly in the cold sea water, and its vocal organs made a low "gurgling" sound.

[Let the stargazer come to me. ]

It left an order and swam slowly towards the depths of the ocean.

…

[Chief, are you looking for me? ]

A thin jellyfish with some cracks on its body surface swam slowly from a distance, and a unique gurgling sound was heard in the sea water at the same time.

Its original body was not like this.

Like other jellyfish, it originally had a plump, smooth and elastic body.

But…

Praying is a dangerous act.

Not to mention stargazing.

It had been in danger of exploding several times - its thin body and cracks were the best proof.

It was also because of this that the stargazer's status in the tribe was second only to the chief.

The chief twisted his plump body and went to the stargazer.

At the same time, he vibrated his vocal organs and told the stargazer about the unusual discoveries made by the tribesmen during the prayer process.

After speaking.

The stargazer fell into silence, and his thin and shriveled body also quietly hovered in the sea water without any movement.

Time passed by bit by bit.

When the chief was a little impatient, the stargazer finally vibrated his vocal organs again.

[The gods... will once again bring down the punishment of annihilation. ]