This Civilization Was Too Constrained

Several weeks later, two visitors arrived at the Holy Sovereign's palace. They told the Holy Sovereign that the world did not revolve around the home planet as its center, but around the star.

They also told him that if Everglow's brightness continued to diminish like this, a cold wave would sweep across the entire home planet.

Such fallacies immediately shook the worldview of everyone present, including the Holy Sovereign.

Among them, the Astronomical Bureau reacted the most fiercely, asking harshly, "You're saying Everglow is the center of the world?"

"Yes. Only this can explain why some points of light in the heavens sometimes move backward..." Kaor rambled on as he explained their theory to the Astronomical Bureau.

However, the Astronomical Bureau interrupted Kaor's theoretical explanation.

"Absurd! The Earth Mother-centered theory has long proven that light objects rise and heavy objects sink. Earth Mother is where all heavy objects gather, and therefore she is the center of the world."

"You claim Earth Mother is not the center of the world, but Everglow is? Then why don't we, as heavy objects, fall toward Everglow?"

In response to this question, Kaor proposed the hypothetical concept of "universal gravitation" based on the Everglow-centered theory.

Unsurprisingly, Kaor and Bofulian were ridiculed and mocked by the entire Sage Palace. The skeptics asked them in return—if universal gravitation truly existed, why had they not been forcibly pulled together by this force?

Neither Kaor nor Bofulian could answer that question, because they had yet to study universal gravitation in depth. Their visit to the Holy Sovereign had mainly been prompted by the issue with the star, which had forced them to come and deliver the news.

"Great and wise Holy Sovereign, they are clearly just like those deceivers from before who urged you to seek immortality. They are trying to win your trust with clumsy tricks, then exploit that trust for personal gain. I believe they should continue to be severely punished as a warning." The Astronomical Bureau loudly advised the Holy Sovereign seated above.

Kaor and Bofulian anxiously reminded him, "Holy Sovereign, everything we said is true! The weather will grow colder and colder! Everglow is the center of the world, the source of all light and heat, and it is directly connected to Earth's weather! If Everglow's burning weakens, everything upon Earth Mother will fall into absolute freezing cold!"

"Take them away. Publicly execute them after the next celestial cycle." The Holy Sovereign gave the order displeasedly.

Kaor and Bofulian were thus escorted out of the Sage Palace by a group of enforcers.

"The Holy Sovereign is wise."

The Astronomical Bureau discreetly flattered him, and the Holy Sovereign's originally unpleasant mood improved slightly.

The Holy Sovereign ordered the musicians and dancers, who had stopped because of the fierce debate, to resume their performance.

"Don't stop. Keep singing, keep dancing."

In the starry expanse, a Galactic Alliance fleet cruising through the empty reaches between stars received a transmission from swarm creatures.

"Psionic activity from swarm creatures detected."

"Where are the coordinates?" the chief commander on the bridge asked.

A subordinate reported, "Moro Star. This stellar system contains an A-class civilization protected by the Alliance."

The message had not come from a probe dispatched by the Galactic Alliance, but from a concealed observation station the Galactic Alliance had established in that stellar system long ago.

The station had detected signals from swarm creatures this time, so it sent an alert to the nearest Galactic Alliance fleet.

The chief commander did not immediately order the fleet to head over. Instead, he questioned his subordinate.

"When was the observation station established?"

"Three-thousandths of a galactic revolution ago," the subordinate answered.

The chief commander asked again, "After such a long time, they should have entered space by now, shouldn't they?"

"They have not. According to the records, after establishing a highly centralized regime on the surface, their ruling class became obsessed with constructing enormous complexes of buildings."

"Why would they build such things?" the chief commander asked curiously. He had seen many civilizations unable to leave their own home planets, but he had never heard of one obsessed with building massive architectural complexes.

The subordinate reported the information compiled by the observation station. "In order to display the achievements made during a ruler's term, this civilization's culture is accustomed to measuring the achievements of a given era by the number of palaces built."

"Influenced by the will of their rulers, objective ideas regarding cosmic physics cannot become widespread. Most individuals in the civilization regard those who pursue non-mainstream paths of development as people in need of correction, labeling them as 'neglecting proper pursuits.'"

After finishing his report, the subordinate asked uncertainly, "Chief Commander, should we activate the Alliance's protection protocol for this civilization?"

"There's no need. Their protection period has already expired. After a full three-thousandths of a galactic revolution, this civilization still hasn't managed to leave its own home planet. That is sufficient proof that its potential is mediocre, nearly at the level of primitive organisms. It has no value worth absorbing."

"Contact several nearby fleets. Launch a joint surprise attack on the swarm creatures within Moro Star."

"Yes, sir!" the subordinate replied.

On the day of the execution, Kaor and Bofulian were bound in humble postures in the great square beneath the Sage Palace, surrounded by a great quantity of flammable materials.

Naturally, such an execution drew many citizens of the Great Wilderness Kingdom to watch.

"Believe us!"

"You can read our observation notes!"

"Everglow's light is weakening periodically! The cold will arrive before long!"

Bofulian and Kaor shouted and appealed over and over, hoping only that their fellow citizens would listen to them. But their fellow citizens had come merely to watch how they would die.

"Don't worry about the cold. It will definitely not come for you."

The one assigned to oversee the execution was the Astronomical Bureau official from the previous palace debate. He said, "The Holy Sovereign has decreed that you will be burned to death by flames during Everglow's most scorching phase. With such a method of death, you certainly won't feel any cold."

The Astronomical Bureau official waited for the star in the sky to reach its highest point. Just as he was about to order the fire lit, the surrounding citizens of the Great Wilderness Kingdom suddenly pointed at the sky in panic.

"Look! Everglow!"

"There's a hole in Everglow!"

"Oh heavens! Everglow has gone out!"

This was a small-scale surprise attack by the Galactic Alliance against the Babel Swarm.

After discovering through the hidden observation station that the swarm was massively multiplying planetary organisms within this stellar system, the Galactic Alliance immediately decided to launch a surprise attack on the system.

Having learned from past combat failures, the Galactic Alliance intended to use a hit-and-run tactic. Multiple fleets would simultaneously fire near-light-speed Black-Hole-Induced Strikes at the star from a distance of one light-day away.

By suddenly detonating the star, they would swiftly destroy some of the planetary organisms.

However, after a day had passed, the observation station they expected to be destroyed remained intact.

The star, which had collapsed and exploded because of the Black-Hole-Induced Strike, was covered by a mass of pitch-black matter and had fallen completely silent.

Rampaging stellar energy had been suppressed by something even more violent...

"Report! The strike was successful, but the enemy units suffered no losses!" a subordinate reported to the chief commander responsible for this small-scale operation.

"That really isn't good news." The chief commander's heart grew incomparably heavy.

And within this stellar system, the Great Wilderness Kingdom felt countless times heavier than the chief commander.

Because their entire race was about to perish!

A long dark era had arrived!