[Fourth Era, Year 1648: The plan to nationalize genetic companies, delayed for 13 years, was announced to be indefinitely postponed, with the authorities no longer insisting. This sparked a frenzy among capitalists, leading to a massive influx of funds into the genetic technology market, with various new and increasingly radical products being proposed.]
[Fourth Era, Year 1700: Humans modified by new genetic technology began to exhibit physical differences, such as a diversity of hair colors, more beautiful eye colors, more appealing physiques, immunity to various diseases, and an average lifespan nearing 200 years.]
[Fourth Era, Year 1859: With the iteration of genetic technology, ’New Humans’ began to erge within the Federation, exhibiting distinct characteristics and abilities from Old Humans, such as innate tetrachromatic vision, perceiving spectra beyond normal human capacity, and hearing ultrasonic waves undiscoverable to ordinary people.]
[Fourth Era, Year 1974: As the number of Newborn Races increased, various conflicts within the Federation continually intensified, including class stratification, racial differences, and cliques, diverting considerable governntal resources and causing society to beco increasingly volatile, with rising costs in maintaining law and order.]
[Fourth Era, Year 2000: Following a referendum, the Silver Chain Federation declared disbandnt, forming 79 independent star domains. The entire civilization plunged into chaos, with only the rchant fleets of the Omicron chanical Council capable of safely navigating between countries.]
[Fourth Era, Year 2067: A peculiar phenonon occurred within the Orion U192 Stellar System. Over five days, a glorious Crown ascended, its radiant light and influence spreading, sensed across the entire Milky Way. This first Black Sun, nad ’Titancus’, marked the end of the Fourth Era and the beginning of the Fifth Epoch.]
...
After finishing reading the history of the Fourth Era, Tilan closed the book, holding it in front of her chest and reclining in her chair.
The ceiling bore fine-lined patterns on a gray background, seemingly aged, with imperceptible cobweb remnants accumulating in the seams.
Though there were occasional wars in the Fourth Era, they were not large in scale and sowhat restrained, without large-scale massacres. Society remained relatively stable, with a continuous ergence of cultural and artistic works, though large-scale unrest began to appear only towards the end.
However, when recording history, there is certainly bias. Because the Fifth Epoch was so cruel and dark, historians later were particularly intent on digging into the origins and signs of disasters in the Fourth Era, leading to detailed records of unrest, while content about the people’s life and culture was relatively sparse.
If one hadn’t personally experienced these events, it would be easy to be misled.
Having finished reading the generally beautiful Fourth Era, next would be the descent into darkness of the Fifth Epoch, but it’s already very late today, so I’ll leave it for tomorrow.
Tilan glanced out the window; it was already dark outside.
Leaving the archive, she didn’t return to her residence, but instead went to a grand hotel in Saint Carthanas.
After sitting at the front desk for a while, several familiar mbers ca downstairs to et her.
"Lady Tilan." These Star Cluster mbers, unlike her, couldn’t easily enter and leave Saint Carthanas, requiring several days of review and application to enter the city.
"You’re here," the girl slightly nodded, thinking of tasks she could delegate to them.
"Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the library of the Cult; there are many texts and materials there. Since there’s no electronic entry here, everything needs manual browsing, so I’ll trouble you to help find information."
"No problem," everyone agreed in unison.
"For tonight, rest well."
...
In the following week, Tilan and the accompanying Star Cluster mbers frequently traversed between the library of the Cult and the archive room, reading and transcribing useful materials. Unlike the peaceful Fourth Era, the Fifth Epoch’s turmoil left historical records fragnted, so even lacking clear dates, rely estimated timings.
So tired...
Tilan, in her white silk gown, lay on the clean black marble floor, with outstretched arms and hair. Around her were stacks of books like little mountains, scattered notes and pages, all her temporary transcription records.
As this special archive room had no other people, Tilan closed her eyes and napped on the floor, rising slowly after about an hour.
Having been imrsed in the library for days, her hair was slightly unkempt at the edges, though the large blue bow at the back of her head remained neat, making Tilan appear a bit cute and lazy.
Standing up, Tilan placed the books from her arms onto the table, then spread her hands. A slight breeze blew through the library, lifting scattered pages into flight around her, rustling like white birds or doves. They circled her, the corner page numbers swiftly passing before her eyes.
Subsequently, the pages rapidly settled on the table in order, aligned by their encoded numbers. Near the end, she paused, untied the bow at her head, and extracted a few threads from it. Their ends condensed into a needle, quickly sewing through the page edges, binding them into a volu.
After organizing, Tilan combed her hair straight and used the ribbon to tie it into a symtrical bow at the back of her head.
Looking at the compiled book in her hand, a sense of accomplishnt welled inside her, and she picked up a pen to write the date on the cover.
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