During the Dark Age, aside from the limitations of spacecraft speed and communication delays, another problem plagued the Ji: the fleeting nature of an individual’s life span compared to the vast expanse of interstellar travel.
For civilizations engaged in space colonization, cryogenic sleep technology was a standard feature, significantly slowing the aging of passengers. Yet, the bonds and attachnts between individuals remained an irreplaceable aspect of any society.
When a young Ji, brimming with hope and ambition, completed their rigorous training and bid farewell to their parents and siblings to embark on an interstellar journey, their youthful heart underestimated the challenges ahead and overestimated their own resilience.
After hundreds of years of travel, the young voyager awoke, as if from a long slumber, their concept of ti blurred. Engulfed in battles, with gunfire raining and cannons roaring, injury and death beca commonplace. Hardened by the trials of war, the youth grew and, if fortunate enough to survive, felt imnse joy at the thought of returning ho.
Yet another centuries-long journey awaited them. In the boundless cosmos, what seed like insurmountable distances to mortal beings were trivial in the grand scale of the universe. Beyond the cabin windows, the stars still shone, most retaining their familiar positions, unchanged through the ages.
At last, the hopeful youth returned to the place of their upbringing. But a millennium had passed. What was once familiar had beco alien. The ti they spent in cryogenic sleep was lived fully by others. Their parents, siblings, and those who saw them off had lived and died without entering stasis.
The youth now understood the look in their parents’ eyes during that final farewell.
The realization shattered them. What had they fought and endured for?
This youth was emblematic of their era. Countless Ji warriors, bereft of emotional anchors, succumbed to despair and beca hollow shells. They participated in wars across star systems, living solely for the purpose of dying.
The chaos and destruction of that ti led to significant gaps in recorded history. But the two-millennia-long Dark Age was inseparably linked to these “youth.”
After the Ji overca the challenges of speed and communication and ended the wars, they soon faced another truth: the issue of the “youth” was fundantally spiritual. Even in peaceti, it remained unavoidable.
As long as the Ji continued to expand, the constraints of speed would inevitably resurface, and the “youth” would reappear.
The Ji quickly identified the core of the problem. The “youth” phenonon was tied to lifespan and the emotional bonds that individuals ford. If so, the solution was clear—address the root causes.
Living organisms, as masterpieces of natural evolution, harbor countless secrets. Making abrupt changes often leads to unpredictable consequences. However, with their advanced technology and the assistance of nurous “external collaborators,” the Ji swiftly developed initial results. These advancents extended lifespans but not enough to resolve the “youth” issue.
The Ji soon realized that the vastness of the cosmos rendered any solution based solely on increasing lifespan inadequate. Without immortality, the problem could never truly be solved.
Thus, they had no choice but to approach the issue from a different angle.
Through a brutal reform, the Ji eradicated natural births entirely. All newborns were artificially cultivated and raised collectively.
Each group of six newborns ford a family. They had no concept of parents, only siblings. Close in age, these individuals were assigned work as a unit once they reached adulthood.
Whether in production, scientific research, or exploratory expeditions, family mbers advanced and retreated as one. They lived and worked together in the sa roles until the end of their lives. This system eliminated the issues caused by disparate lifespans.
From the perspective of emotional bonds, the Ji had resolved the problem of the “youth,” albeit at the cost of suppressing many emotions.
This ushered in a period of stable developnt for the Ji. However, despite addressing the “youth” issue, they did not abandon their exploration of life itself.
Their research expanded beyond lifespan, exploring every aspect of life. For example, during the initial cultivation of life seeds, they made adjustnts to predispose individuals toward specific roles, ensuring that upon birth, they were better suited for their assigned work.
Stronger warriors, more brilliant scientists, and so on—while these were peripheral improvents, they marked the Ji’s relentless drive to challenge the limits of life itself. These successes made the Ji increasingly arrogant. Devoid of certain emotions, they grew more fanatical—a transformation that reminded Luo Wen of a certain green-haired, obsessive gno of a wizard.
The Ji beca radical. While their original average lifespan had been lost to history, it was estimated by the Interstellar Technological Confederation’s civilizations to have been around 200 years.
By the ti of their demise, the Ji’s average lifespan had increased tenfold to nearly 2,000 years.
Yes, the Ji perished. Their experints in pushing the boundaries of life concealed innurable hidden dangers. As genetic modifications continued, the Ji grew increasingly rational—cold, even emotionless.
Additionally, the modified life seeds exhibited declining viability. Birthrates plumted, but the Ji, now devoid of emotion, saw no issue with this trend.
Until their final genetic modification.
For over a thousand years, no new mbers were added to the Ji population. As the remaining Ji aged and died, their numbers dwindled. Although they still possessed the unmodified Ji genetic templates, the surviving Ji refused to acknowledge these as their kin.
While the Ji population shrank, their territories beca increasingly populated by non-Ji species. Yet, despite this, the Ji maintained an iron grip on their domains without the slightest loss of control.
Their dominance was underpinned by longstanding policies and another critical factor—a figure known as “Lumina.”
A long ti ago, perhaps even before the Dark Age, the Ji’s vast territory began to outgrow their ability to govern it effectively.
This was not rely due to technological constraints but also human factors.
The Ji’s supre governing body, the Council of Elders, had existed since the mythic era and continued to oversee all major and minor affairs.
However, as ti passed and the number of colonies increased, the Council of Elders expanded in size. It beca bloated with mbers, mirroring the Ji’s once-vivid emotional lives, with each individual holding strong personal opinions.
In most situations, having diverse perspectives was an asset. Yet, in so matters, it beca a liability.
While the elders generally acted in the interests of their species, there were countless paths to achieve those goals. Each elder clung to their own ideas, forming factions and alliances.
As a result, many matters beca mired in endless debate. Efficiency drifted further and further away from the Ji.
Fortunately, they eventually recognized the problem—although it took considerable ti.
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