Between the first and second millennia after the Shuriman Empire was founded, the empire's prevailing mood changed considerably.
As the empire grew more adept at wielding Ascended Power, it flourished far more than it had in the previous millennium. Underground aqueducts connected its great cities and regions, while channeling Ascended Power at the same time, bringing abundant life to every region and city in the empire.
The abundant energy was enough to turn deserts into oases. To the Shurimans, the Sun Disc was an inexhaustible source of energy. The only thing they needed to consider was how to make better use of it and lead the great Shuriman Empire toward even greater heights.
So how could the empire's greatness be put on display?
A thousand years ago, perhaps the Shurimans would have chosen to expand their borders and explore the limits of the land.
But as the Shuriman Empire's territory grew ever larger, further exploration and expansion had become a losing proposition for the empire—especially after Shurima had brought the entire continent under its control. If it wanted to expand further, transporting Ascended Power across the sea would be its biggest problem.
Moreover, it was around this time that the Sun Disc's "maximum output" began to show. The Shuriman Empire could still rely entirely on the Sun Disc's power to sustain a great many astonishing wonders, but if the empire's territory continued to expand, more cities would need Ascended Power to sustain them, and the losses caused by greater distances would grow worse. Perhaps one day, the Sun Disc would no longer be enough to sustain everything in the empire.
That was something nobody wanted to see.
So, with the Great Tunnel project abandoned halfway through, only a third of the planned work completed, even the wise and mighty Regent