Traveler of the River of Time and Space-Chapter 523 - 7: Empire’s Fall (Part 2)

On the way, Su Ziyu also casually asked the other party about intelligence regarding this world.

The result was a bit unexpected.

Though they spoke of an empire, it wasn’t truly an empire, just a lucky inheritor of part of an ancient imperial technology.

The whole story begins over three thousand years ago.

During that period, this planet was still in the medieval era. Humans, though colonizers of this planet, had regressed back to primitive civilization due to unknown subspace storms and the disaster of alien invasions.

The existence of subspace alien beasts made human survival increasingly difficult. Civilization stagnated for a long period.

However, during that time, a powerful medieval empire emerged on this planet.

After its rise, the empire began exploring outward; they were truly the destiny’s progeny on this planet. Shortly after their rise, they unearthed a complete base from the ancient lost empire. From then on, the empire began rapidly ascending the scientific tree, but because of the piecemeal acquisition of technology, many aspects still retained medieval customs, with the feudal imperial system continuing to the present.

Hundreds of years passed.

The empire rapidly dominated this planet, developing into a prosperous civilization, realizing there was not only human intelligence life on this planet. To counter threats from outside and underground, the empire began a cross-era ’racial ascension’ plan.

Due to the incomplete technological tree, the empire didn’t have very strong research capabilities; most of the technology came from the ruins of the ancient lost empire.

Therefore.

This racial ascension plan spanning over three hundred years only reached halfway before failing.

The whole plan was referred to as [Spiritual Ascension]; the emperor of the empire decided to genetically modify the imperial people’s genetic tree, granting them [Sensitive Mind] talent from birth.

Initially, the spiritual ascension plan was successful.

During that period, newborns within the empire exhibited at least LV1 level of Spiritual Energy and many children displayed Spiritual Power above LV3 in their youth.

The empire was beginning to flourish.

Nobles rushed to undergo genetic optimization, while breakthroughs were made in researching the ancient lost empire’s technology. They successfully created [Spiritual Amplification Device], capable of greatly amplifying one’s Spiritual Power through machinery. Virtually all nobles in the empire possessed superhuman powers.

However, technological progress does not tantamount to civilization transformation; the empire retained medieval feudal rule. The powerful nobles fell deep into indulgence and pleasure, growing increasingly degenerate, making life harder for the lower masses.

Especially with the rampant genetic modification, many lower-class citizens were reduced to test subjects and sacrifices.

The initial rebel army was born at this time.

They could initially only hide underground, seeking opportunities to resist the empire’s tyranny.

But no one expected the empire’s [Spiritual Ascension] plan would lead to its rapid destruction. With a large number of empire people receiving genetic optimization, more and more attained Spiritual Talent.

Just as the empire was about to step into an exceptionally glorious phase.

Suddenly, one day.

Mind whispers erupted, stronger than before, filled with more malice and negative emotions.

Those born with [Sensitive Mind] talent in the empire suffered devastating blows, countless went insane and died, countless minds twisted into madness.

The emperor of the empire.

A peerless figure who lived almost six hundred years directly transformed into some sort of terrifying monster,

Disaster struck.

In a single night, the entire empire suddenly collapsed; those born with powerful Spiritual Talent died one after another, and once-glorious cities became ruins. Luckier survivors could only hide underground, relying on mind suppression barriers to eke out an existence.

Even now, the empire’s nobles cannot live on the surface for extended periods; they can only conduct external activities for a short while, and must stay in underground bases the rest of the time.

Civilization has once again lost its inheritance.

Fortunately, the former empire had a rich foundation; they obtained not only one technology from the ancient ruins, and with the failure of the spiritual ascension plan, they began researching another branch of the technology tree.

The failure of Spiritual Ascension scared the empire people.

Though they possess substantial mechanical bionic technology and biological modification technology, they still dare not conduct a second ’racial ascension’ plan.

Massive resources were consumed, gradually depleting the empire’s foundation.

One failed ’spiritual ascension’ entirely drained the empire’s reserves, and it has yet to recover.

Now, the empire’s leaders can only struggle to survive within underground cities.

"Truly madmen!"

After hearing the empire’s past, Su Ziyu couldn’t help but click his tongue and say, "Is racial ascension that easy to achieve?"

The current empire nobles are constantly seeking ways to fix their offspring’s genes.

After a certain degree of genetic correction, the empire’s noble offspring can now slightly maneuver on the surface, but still cannot resist mind whispers. An elderly face Su Ziyu previously encountered suddenly contorted due to the side effects of excessive mind sensitivity.

This talent brings immense Spiritual Energy, but the cost is considerable.

Currently.

The empire’s strategy has shifted to biological modification and bionic transformation, but due to the rarity and scarcity of genetic seeds, only a small portion of the upper class and lucky individuals can receive genetic seeds from the ancient ruins. Others can only undergo basic modification procedures. Empire nobles highly resist bionic transformation because accepting it means giving up a portion of their indulgences; to satisfy their desires, they prefer living in underground cities.

"So."

"The empire internally lacks space marines?" Su Ziyu thought to himself.

Any genetic seeds come from deep within the ancient ruins, seemingly buried by the ancient lost empire before some catastrophic outbreak.

Because genetic seeds are extremely rare, bionic transformation is currently being promoted within the empire.

Initially, they chose the ’spiritual ascension’ path because the empire’s resources perfectly met the ascension conditions. It was unexpected to lead to the fall of a powerful empire.

"Racial ascension carries great risks!" Su Ziyu murmured.

He must remind the Wasteland Plane’s people, for the Wasteland Plane’s technology tree is nearing the mechanical ascension path.

Currently, the empire is fragmented.

The empire is implementing a governor system, but in fact, it’s completely independent little kingdoms.

Fortunately, the imperial family still holds formidable military power, particularly the space marine surgery and advanced bionic technology—only the imperial family possesses complete technical knowledge.

However, the reigning empress, Isabella II, also faces significant issues.

Isabella II is called the ’bloodthirsty empress’, reportedly extremely cruel, enjoying flaying executions. She was born with headaches, inherently volatile, although she holds imperial power, she stays inside the Forbidden Palace for long periods, allegedly due to having astonishing Spiritual Talent, unable to completely resist mind whispers even within protective barriers, directly warping her personality under the torment.

After the failure of Spiritual Ascension, imperial family successors possess ’psychological disorder’ issues.

Empress Isabella periodically has to enter hibernation pod for recuperation; current empire governance is maintained by internal affairs ministers while local feudal nobles form entirely autonomous little kingdoms.

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