Star Empire

"...Movie viewing class! I heard that we are going to a special large classroom to watch! We are going to different floors!"

"Speaking of which, don't you find this strange? We usually go to and from school and walk around the building, but the structure of this building always seems to be a mystery?"

"Well... I've seen something on the Internet that may be related to this."

"tell me the story?"

"It is said that most of the large creations in the empire that are larger than a person have macroscopic activation powers."

"activation?"

"It can be understood this way - take this building as an example. There are many rooms in this building, but the position and arrangement of these rooms are not fixed. If you don't need to use them, what you see is formed by them. A collection of items, only the total amount, no sequential relationship or arrangement relationship. Only after the specific needs are implemented, they will be arranged in a fixed way, that is, how many floors there are, and what rooms are in those floors..."

"I've never felt it."

"...If you haven't noticed, you can think of it as a new addition."

"What about the classroom and floor we are on?"

"I don't remember these changes - it should be the part with the highest long-term fixed usage depending on the frequency of use, and more parts have been waiting to be called, that's what I think. After all, I have dabbled in this a little bit. , if you ask me for more details, I won’t be able to answer..."

In the wide stairwell, students walked together in twos and threes. They followed the guidance of the slowly flowing light on the wall and went to the "classroom" where they would attend the last few classes at this stage - the screening room.

"This is……"

"It's indeed wide enough and a lot taller, but otherwise... there doesn't seem to be anything special about it, right?"

The golden dome appeared in front of everyone. The curve of the dome is soft and natural, starting from the ground and smoothly transitioning from the wall to the ceiling. The floor here also takes on a stepped shape, gradually rising from the front of the screening room to the back. The walls here have a texture between crystal and metal, the same as all the buildings I have ever seen.

"It's so clean again? There's almost no furniture in sight."

"Then what are you sitting and leaning on?"

"It's okay if it's activated, but if it's not activated, I feel like it's not finished yet..."

"Quiet, students." A voice from the front of the classroom stopped the students' discussion. As the words fell, the surrounding lights quickly dimmed. At the same time, the students began to find that the distance between themselves and the people around them suddenly became very large...

"According to the teaching plan, we have the last two movie viewing classes to attend. And what everyone needs to watch is the "historical microcosm" of the empire's development to this day..."

"The primary education stage tells us the basic rules for getting along with ourselves and the world. The intermediate education stage tells us the structure of the world, its existence and some basic operating rules. And in the advanced education stage that we are about to begin, Here, everyone will begin to form their own independent cognitive concepts. What you see and learn in these first two stages of education will become the material for you to build ladders when you climb higher in the future."

"And this 'history' is also the most important part of it. I hope everyone will pay attention to this. At the same time, I also want to tell everyone - these historical events are not only true in terms of content, but also true in nature."

"The perceptual and rational parameters are being monitored and the system is operating normally."

"Historical iteration activation, immersion intensity is 100%, confirmed."

"The multi-dimensional safety monitoring system for students has been launched."

"The historical environment possibility suppression and shearing system has been activated, monitoring activation abnormalities at any time and pruning abnormal evolutionary branches..."

…

"The movie viewing begins." After the words fell, all the lighting in the room was completely extinguished. At this moment, the students sitting here don't seem to be sitting in a certain classroom seat, but in an empty and boundless nothingness.

"Need such a big battle? Movie watching class?"

Kriz stared, but this strange shock did not last long. Some words slowly emerged from Kriz's heart: History is the general term for all activities, all iterations, and all events in the past of our civilization, as well as all interpretations of these activities, iterations, and events.

They are objectively existing entities. Due to limitations such as the limitations of the times, limitations of vision, and limitations of the overall situation, the history recorded by intelligent entities cannot completely and thoroughly show the truth and reality of every moment. But this does not prevent civilization from exploring its past and pursuing the truth of its past.

The records have become reality, but they are not yet fixed. They are still waiting for more wise men to supplement and restore them. At the same time, everyone who views these results needs to understand that they represent the current understanding of the past. These are not final conclusions, let alone dogma. How to understand them and how to recognize them does not have a precise final solution.

"There is no final solution." Kriz chewed the meaning behind these short words. When he "raised his head" again, he found that there was no longer anything in front of him, and the blue sea of ​​stars spread in front of him. Come on.

Kriz's consciousness shuttled through the sea of ​​stars, and his sight spanned the blue starlight, the vast sea of ​​stars, the huge grids and fibers, and the huge "funnel" that spanned the sky of the film.

Soon, he saw a focus, a "focus" that contained a huge amount of information - it was a huge entity that seemed to be made of obsidian lumps. Its volume might be much larger than the planet he was on. times. However, the size is obviously not the most fascinating aspect of that "focus". Kriz discovered that the funnel that stretched across the sky and the countless curved lines all converged here.

The huge obsidian body is like a heart - the heart of the entire world. The trembling of space, the twinkling of stars, and the changes of all things are like breathing and pulse. Information born from all over the world and from the extreme edges of the world is pulled back to the focus along countless story lines, and then is sent back to the world like fresh "arterial blood" in the strong pulsation of the focus. Everywhere, sent back to the edge of the world.

"Is this a world-class node? A world circuit base? But its style doesn't look like a creation of the empire. Σ?"

Red light emerged from the surface of the celestial body. Those lights were like blood veins. They extended on the black earth, forming a complex network. And deep in the grid, a huge blood-red "Σ" emblem lay quietly on the black ground. Its mere existence is enough to reveal its weight, solemnity and power silently.

"I see."

The "heart" beats silently but powerfully, controlling the endless flow of information throughout the world. The vast starry sky can only be said to be the surface layer of the entire world, and under this most superficial and direct surface structure, the deep structure that supports them to present such an appearance is penetrated by the projection generated by the huge focus. Deep in the undercurrents and whirlpools of the deep structure, several nodes containing the fortress, the mysterious and powerful civilization's will and bloodline were quietly built and then planted - like three seeds.

After that, everything seemed to have accelerated countless times. After the seeds are planted, they control the surrounding celestial bodies and time and space, forming the right environment and the source of the story. Life began to emerge and thrive from these environmentally disparate sources. Before they crawled across the earth, countless forerunners had already cast their sights on the stars countless times - what was that? Is it a huge cover with flashing lights, or something else? Will there be earth there too? Will there be "self" there too?

The curiosity has long existed, and the determination has been secretly made, but is this road of exploration and development so easy to follow? Difficulties come from everywhere, both externally and internally... Traveling far away requires resources, but resources are not readily available. At the same time, how to carry them? Overweight luggage will crush the travelers' legs before they set out, but outside the warm door of their home, in the endless desert of time and space, how likely is it to be sure... to determine that the next supply point will be at the traveler's side? Within walking distance?

And this is just the simplest assumption under the most ideal environment.

Who wants to travel? Who is eligible to travel? Who will prepare everything a tourist needs for a trip? What is special about people who hold these qualifications? What extra can they do? How can others mitigate the impact of this unfairness?

Within life, life itself is still full of contradictions and conflicts, and life itself is born out of contradictions and struggles. They have only achieved a temporary balance, but this state is far from reaching final stability. If life itself is like this, what about a loose group composed of many lives...?

The strong get stronger and the weak get weaker. This is an axiom of development. But this is not conducive to the development and ascension of the group, but if you want to break this trend, from the perspective of relaxation, it will delay the intensification of contradictions and conflicts. From a radical perspective, doing so is retrograde - if it is because of weakness We must give favors. If we have to make extra sacrifices and transfer the fruits of our efforts because we are strong, then why do we still need to work hard?

And all of this is just one-sided words from one point of view. Order and the world are chaotic, from which countless lines can be pulled out, and the superposition and distortion of such countless lines form everything in reality. And all of this can be seen from the huge fortress hidden deep in the world structure.

The story is messy, but it moves forward. Many times, even the people who experience the story themselves don’t know how they overcame those stumbling blocks at that time. It’s as if they softened and blurred on their own...is that so?

All of this flashed continuously in front of Kriz. The little man was passing through countless pieces of paper, passing through the thick layers formed by countless stacked pictures, and traveling through the long history of the empire.

"The reason why the absolute space-time reference system is not applicable is that there is an upper limit to the speed of light. The greatest influence from a current real entity cannot exceed the scope of the light cone. And outside the light cone... In fact, it is useless no matter how hard it is, information transmission Without going out, there is really no point in thinking about the impact outside the light cone..."

"However, there are also limitations... The upper limit of the speed that relies on air to operate in the air is only the speed of sound, and the highest speed that relies on electromagnetic force to transmit information in space is the speed of light - the properties of the two are actually the same. If you bypass If the electromagnetic force directly uses space drive to complete the displacement, the factors that separate the plane of reality may be bypassed. Even in the future... Is it possible that there are certain factors that are enough to enable us to break through the limitations of the space-time structure head-on? At that time...do we need to pick up the concept of absolute space and time again, at least part of it?"

"...There are internal worries and external troubles..."

"The Fermi Paradox is still before us. Although the birth of life requires a large number of accidental factors, the vastness of the universe is probably enough to erase the "small probability" caused by these factors with a huge amount... Why do we exist? We It only takes ten thousand years to span the entire galaxy and spread the shadow of wisdom across the entire galactic disk, but enough to be clearly visible on the scale of the galaxy... We have not found it anywhere else, not even in one place. This is Why? Is it because... there's a Great Filter out there in space, somewhere we can't see?"

"As for internal worries... how should we maintain the integrity of civilization on a quasi-river system, a river system, or a larger scale? The barriers between stars and the distance from one side of the civilization's territory to the other are enough to tear apart the belonging and belonging between us. Unification, we must pay attention to this...What methods and means will be needed to determine when the time comes - to determine that we can call on the power of the entire civilization when needed..."

"excuse me."

"What's wrong?"

"What I want to say is...must we use means and laws to restrict these phenomena?"

"What's the meaning?"

"Is it possible to use other methods, such as improving the quality and mental level of the whole people, so that everyone can generally support civilized decisions? And in the same way, the decisions made by the decision-makers can be correct and adapt to the times. trend?"

"Of course there is no problem in terms of feasibility, but for such a decision to be passed, it needs the right time..."

"Timing means..."

"Woo-buzz-buzz~"

Vacuum cannot transmit ordinary sound waves, but in front of Kriz, an alarm blared in the vast sea of ​​stars - from devices with independent intelligence and countless idle beings. After a certain silent contradiction reached a critical point, the powder keg was finally ignited. . After the flames of this war gradually subsided, the "opportunity" came quietly - life and additional intelligence began to merge into one, and the systematic and precise macro-control mechanism of life has since reached a new peak.

But... the problem isn't over yet.

Constraints always have their limits. Overly large territories and rapid changes in the amount of information make it easy to form closed boundaries. Closed "circles within circles" of civilizations can easily lead to the expansion of differences and conflicts within civilizations... This requires coordination. , requires the joint efforts of all parties, and many good enough methods to "relieve pressure" from the contradiction between trends and needs.

So... can the former "foreign invasion" be transformed into "the right time" and "the right location"?

"We have observed the long-awaited traces of extraterrestrial civilization activities... They are transmitted through the ordinary unified medium and space-time structure, but... the results of our analysis are not optimistic."

"With such intensive supernova activity... what about the previous survey results of that galaxy?"

"Here...there shouldn't be such obvious supernova activity behind the Magnetic Sky Area. According to the results of the Grand Unification Analysis, there shouldn't be such a high density in the river system in that area that can cause a supernova explosion. Massive stars are one. The second is... they shouldn't light up so uniformly, as if... detonated all at once."

"This part needs to be demonstrated urgently!"

"What? An unknown infectious disease has begun to spread among the observers? Isolate immediately!"

…

Stars with life are squirming in space, and their schedules are enough to change the appearance of large-scale structures in space at the macro level.

The birth and death of millions of stars may not be intentional, they may just be casualties of some larger-scale military activities. At the peak of the war, when the cosmic background radiation seemed to be heating up, the entire starry sky was shrouded in thin clouds, and the end of the world seemed imminent, countless cantilevers were cut off, and countless river systems and river systems were cut off. Everything behind was dismembered, thrown into power furnaces, into huge paintings, into terrifying oscillators, and turned into chaotic entropy in the next act of destroying the opponent.

"...How did I see this place? Wait, that alien civilization fortress I saw before, what was it doing?" Kriz turned his gaze to look at the fortress that should have been the most dazzling in the universe, but currently seems to be The deepest hidden black-red celestial body that no one has ever discovered. But what surprised him was that the black celestial body seemed to have fewer story lines connected to the world itself, and more information seemed to be flowing in a direction unknown to the world...

Now, that direction is called outside the world barrier, and that direction is called void.

"Strange, what is "it" doing?" Faced with this situation, ten thousand question marks appeared in Kriz's mind - as far as he knew, Σ this civilization can be called the star civilization of every era. "Creator", in its possible heyday, the technology and power mastered by the Σ civilization were considered gods even to the stars in their heyday. And if that black-red fortress really functions as the base of the world circuit, then the war that has lasted for hundreds of millions of years and is almost on its face... that fortress cannot be "invisible".

At least that's how it should be under normal circumstances.

Judging from my own understanding, until it can touch the underlying protocol layer of the world, no matter how huge the power is, it can only be considered "ordinary power." They may intuitively appear to be much more gorgeous than the extraordinary power, but that is only because the owner of the extraordinary power does not "show" its true power - a simple constant modification command is enough to make all the stars in the starry sky In an instant, it goes out or explodes into a supernova explosion that is tens of billions of times stronger than the theoretical intensity, and then messes up everything in the world. It is so bad that the aftermath tens of billions of years later can still be heard by the whole universe in the structure of space and time. Got the drum roll... but it did nothing.

There are not many explanations that can be thought of - either it is doing it deliberately, or it is doing something else, and everything here does not attract its attention, or...

It no longer has the ability to process everything that is happening in front of it.

"Keep reading and your questions will be answered."

"……teacher?"

"Just keep reading..."

The former foreign troubles turned into endless favorable conditions and favorable conditions - foreign enemies pressed heavily on the territory, and the strong external pressure made the barriers that once existed within the star civilization disappear like compressed atoms in a neutron star. Due to the huge differences in race, living habits and culture, it is almost impossible to obtain even a trace of additional benefits from defecting between the three major forces. Facing the large army, any small colony that has lost the support of the civilized subject will be defenseless.

With almost no way out, the cohesion of the main body of civilization has reached an unprecedented height... Tens of billions of years of war, year after year, are like tempering metal, constantly improving the purity of the cohesion of civilization.

It may be that for a long period of time that civilization itself was not aware of, the ordinary starry sky was no longer enough to provide the energy needed for war between three completely different powerful forces. Under this situation, the wisdom began to reach out to the deeper parts buried under the starry sky, such as... space itself, such as... the primordial power.

The structure of space and time began to be converted into usable energy, which drove the new war machine forward. The once glorious life began to have some depth, and after the depth appeared, the fighting became more and more cruel...

"Isn't this... raising gu?" Kriz asked softly while being shocked and angry.

"Maybe so."

"Then how can we allow—"

"What is allowed?"

"It is allowed to be discussed, studied, researched, and even given the status of a creator..."

"A lot of things have happened around ΣCivilization, and each thing can leave different emotions. When these emotions come together, what they emerge is more complicated - it is not just hatred and hostility. One that can summarize and sum up.”

"……yes."

Although Kriz promised this, the huge impact made him feel a little dazed - words such as the Great Triangular Constellation, the Zerg's Final Song Battle, Theodal Memetic Counterattack, the Great Stagnation, and Border Exploration. Like clouds of smoke passing by and dissipating, they did not leave much of an impression on Kriz until...

"Huh?" Kriz suddenly felt something familiar - in front of him, a piece of the original silver plate had been neatly cut off, as if it had been deleted by a frame.

That familiar thing... is extraordinary power, more accurately... arcana! !

"Yes, the emergence of creations of extraordinary power made the Federation's technology gain momentum again at that time, but since it was impossible to break through at all, the role that this external force could play was not obvious. After that, the Great Stagnation It continues until the vortex that changes the fate of the entire civilization breaks out——"

The world's boundary barrier was torn open, and void poured into the world from the crack. It’s just that in this process, the void underwent a subtle decay after being coordinated by the cracks in the world barrier—destruction did not come, but creation came, a door to a higher realm, but...

Kriz saw that what was involved behind that huge golden vortex was so complicated that even the total of all the story lines controlled by the world circuit could not compare to it.

In the void, countless giant hands seemed to have received the summons at the same time. They turned their bodies and gathered their palms in a certain direction. These actions seemed to be part of some kind of ritual, something unprecedented in scale. Although this part was not shown, Kryz saw a tower, an invisible giant tower that rose from the ground and then collapsed. Information comes in and flows out. However, in this reverse tide, the information has long been contaminated...