"So, in a certain sense, the Cosmic Energy-absorbing Bacteria are essentially the descendants of Earth's humans from the previous Cosmic Era.
And their initial state, or perhaps their initial evolutionary level... was actually akin to Cosmic Behemoths like the Solar Squid.
It's just that as the universe's average Energy levels and overall Ether activity continuously dropped, they were forced to devolve into simple bacteria lacking brains or complex neural circuits, all for the sake of survival?"
Seraphine tilted her head slightly, pondering deeply. "It's like a T-Rex devolving into a rooster. For the species to survive better, sacrificing their massive size and plummeting from the top of the food chain to the bottom is a small price to pay.
Indeed, this evolutionary path of winning through sheer numbers is the most reliable. But how did these low-energy bacteria evolve into the endpoint of their lineage—the Solar Squid—only to coincidentally become the Nourishment for the birth of the God of Hunger? The design of this evolutionary path feels... far too deliberate."
After a moment's thought, she suddenly couldn't help but think of the Annihilation Traveler.
Seraphine believed... it was highly likely that the mastermind had intervened once again. This would explain the directed evolution of the Energy-absorbing Bacteria later on, as well as the complete set of rules requiring a Solar Squid as a Sacrifice and a Black Hole as an Altar to birth a God of Hunger.
Even the entire tragic history of the old-era humans was likely within the entity's design. The mysterious six-dimensional life form, hundreds of millions of years ago, had probably anticipated that the thirteenth generation of humans would evolve into Hyper-Archons in the new era's universe, and knew that the Archons' descendants would devolve and branch into various life forms.
"Is this... a prompt from my Transcendental Perception?"
Seraphine pondered for a moment, then shifted her thoughts again:
"However, for these Hyper-Archons—who had achieved an extremely high level of energy freedom—to face extinction in later generations due to the influence of the universal environment... is quite embarrassing."
Though she said this, Seraphine easily deduced the root cause of the Hyper-Archons' embarrassing downfall.
The reason lay in their fully Ether-Crystallized high-energy particle bodies.
From a structural standpoint, the Hyper-Archon's body was actually very similar to the Gravitational Dragon clan's natural stable Nuclear Molecules body. Both belonged to high-temperature, high-energy plasma life forms.
A plasma state occurs when matter is subjected to an ultra-high-temperature environment. The internal electrons of all constituent atoms gain energy and escape the binding of the atomic nucleus, becoming free electrons. This leads to the collapse and disintegration of the atomic structure, evolving into an ionized gaseous substance that exhibits some physical properties of a gas, but is neither gas, solid, nor liquid.
Of course, although both are plasma matter, the fully crystallized high-energy particle body is clearly vastly superior to the Nuclear Molecules body in every aspect, an almost night-and-day difference.
The former could essentially be viewed as the ultimate version of the latter.
However, on a universe-wide scale, both are rare species.
The true dominant life forms, occupying more than half of the vast space, will always be low-temperature, low-energy organisms.
From a thermodynamic perspective, life is an open system that maintains its Low Entropy and high order over a long period while exchanging matter and energy with the outside world.
There is no absolute answer as to what matter constitutes such a system.
Theoretically, in the vast universe, as long as a celestial body's natural environment, temperature, resources, and Ether activity are suitable, low-temperature, low-energy organisms can easily emerge.
Furthermore, low-temperature, low-energy organisms can more easily undergo complex and refined evolution in terms of physiological structure. Over time, they can evolve ultra-high intelligence and establish a civilization with a sound hierarchy and stable structure.
Conversely, the foundational material of a Gravitational Dragon's body—which is essentially Nuclear Molecules formed by multiple atomic nuclei bound together through neutron exchange under strong gravitational forces—can only emerge and stably exist in a sufficiently high-temperature, high-energy, High-Ether environment.
Because in normal environments, the existence of Nuclear Molecules is extremely unstable, and their lifespans are incredibly short. They are fundamentally incapable of forming larger organic Nuclear Molecules, let alone life.
The reason the Gravitational Dragon clan could be born back then relied upon the neutron Ether-Crystallization within the connective structures of the Nuclear Molecules in a Super-Ether environment.
It was precisely due to those microscopic Ether-Crystalline neutrons that the structural stability and particle lifespan of the Nuclear Molecules were so powerful, allowing the Gravitational Dragon clan to be born and exist long-term.
This is exactly the fundamental reason why such particles, which can only emerge and persist due to High-Ether or even Super-Ether environments, are called [ Natural Stable Nuclear Molecules ], rather than simply [ Nuclear Molecules ].
The continued existence of this material relies heavily on the external environment's Ether activity.
If the external Ether activity is low, the natural stable Nuclear Molecules will tend to slowly disintegrate, or even shatter.
Simultaneously, this is why Cadelon almost never took off her armor outside the galactic core region or used her Star God Mode (her true physical form). It was also why using the Star God Mode caused lifespan degradation.
If the Gravitational Dragon clan's natural stable Nuclear Molecules body had such high requirements for external Ether activity, then it was even more extreme for their ultimate version—the Hyper-Archons.
The Light Species Archons' requirements for external Ether activity were exponentially higher, so high that even a Super-Ether environment could not meet their minimum Ether gas needs.
This was because the Hyper-Archon's body... was composed almost entirely of Ether-Crystalline protons.
They... were essentially a race of proton life forms.
The thought flashed by in an instant.
Seraphine continued to "read" the advancing history.
Accelerated reading.
In this long and surging historical records, as the Light Species sadly exited the universal stage, the vast space seemed to truly enter a new era.
From that moment on, matter, energy, and information began to continuously display various miraculous changes and evolutions.
Strangely, upon entering this period, the memories of the God of Hunger race inexplicably became blurred and chaotic. Furthermore, they were filled with massive gaps, distortions, and blanks.
This made Seraphine's deductions much more laborious, yielding little result.
"A large chunk of this is pure garbage time."
Seraphine shook her head, accelerating the progression speed of the historical records.
Thus, in a brief minute, millions, tens of millions, over a billion years,... rushed by, leaving no trace.
During this vast span of time, massive patches of mysterious, beautiful, glowing primordial nebulae began to form. Within their exceptionally scorching centers composed of gas and dust, under the effects of high temperature and pressure, atomic nuclei began to fuse, releasing intense energy and blinding light, evolving in large quantities into brown dwarfs, red dwarfs... various different types of stars.
Besides these, the "Children" of the stars—rocky planets, gas giants, and distant frozen planets—also gradually formed over the long years, continuously orbiting their "Mothers."
Some were as scorching red as a furnace, some were distant and frigid, and some were perfectly mild.
On their boundless continents and vast oceans, various simple life forms, driven by Ether, gradually emerged. They began their evolutionary paths, ignorantly and unconsciously moving toward an uncertain future.
Meanwhile, floating throughout the universe like islands of brilliant light, small and large galaxies composed of millions, tens of millions, or billions of stars and nebulae gathered and formed under the influence of gravity.
These intertwining galaxies, again due to gravity, clustered together to form even larger, more magnificent Galaxy Clusters and Superclusters.
The billions of years of the universe's evolutionary history presented a magnificent spectacle, harboring the gestation and birth of countless lives.
During this incredibly long period, countless celestial bodies formed and perished, countless galaxies gathered and dispersed, and countless civilizations and races rose and fell... The universe was filled with the tremors of birth and death.
As the Observers of all this, the Hyper-Archons and their descendants scattered across the universe were also constantly evolving to adapt to the environment.
Not to mention the arduous, dangerous, and highly inefficient "self-mutilating" evolution of the numerous Hyper-Archons.
Many other Archon descendants, due to evolutionary failure, eventually faded away and disappeared from the universe entirely.
Of course, some descendants thrived and prospered, continuously multiplying and developing into all manner of diverse races.
But no matter how they evolved, under the crushing weight of billions of years, 99% of the Archon descendants ultimately could not withstand the pressure of time, regrettably bidding farewell to the universal stage in various ways.
Only a sparse few races managed to survive the hardship, among them the Cosmic Energy-absorbing Bacteria.
Simultaneously, Seraphine was astonished to discover that many cataloged Cosmic Behemoths and interstellar beast herds were actually re-evolved species of Archon descendants, or even re-re-evolved species.
This even included the Star-burning Vulture race, which was once ranked as one of the Six Calamities of the Milky Way, along with many races from the Sentience Realm... Clearly, they were all re-evolved species of Archon descendants.
Because this historical records was too blurry and chaotic, Seraphine could not clarify what these Archon descendants had encountered to slip into the Sentience Realm and evolve step-by-step into so many bizarre, semi-ethereal species.
Just as she could never "see clearly" how those "incomplete" Hyper-Archons had evolved into... the God of Hunger race.
Indeed, those previously "incomplete" Archons had somehow, at some unknown point and through some unknown process, inexplicably evolved into the God of Hunger.
Regarding the detailed information of this crucial history, Seraphine deduced it multiple times, only to receive fragmented data that made no sense, with the beginning not matching the end.
Based on this useless, fragmented information, it was fundamentally impossible to assemble and construct a relatively detailed and clear records.
It was all like looking at flowers through a fog, utterly chaotic.
"Is this another crucial informational defense design deliberately set up by the Annihilation Traveler?"
Seraphine thought deeply. "Could it be... that he set up some kind of information black box with anti-decryption effects? To prevent someone in later generations from finding crucial information he didn't want discovered?"
In short, after emerging from the initial Dark Age that lasted 380,000 years, and passing through a vast span of time—perhaps seven billion, perhaps nine billion years—the God of Hunger race was finally born into the vast universe.
During this period, it is unknown how many magnificent or tragic events occurred to drive this result, nor how many races and civilizations were born and destroyed.
Seraphine only vaguely "saw" that when the God of Hunger race was born, their numbers exceeded an astronomical figure. It seemed many consciousnesses had descended again from the background radiation, among which existed quite a few powerful consciousnesses possessing semi-materialized Spirituality.
Simultaneously, within this nascent God of Hunger race, there suddenly existed several hundred Gluttony Kings. Along with all other levels of Gods of Hunger, they were scattered across all the boundlessly colossal Dark Flows, and even within the vaster... Gravitational Primeval Rivers.
Indeed, from this segment of memory, Seraphine suddenly saw that the God of Hunger race's footprint was absolutely not limited to the Primeval River that encompassed the observable universe, the size of which was unknown.
Deducing from the available information, Seraphine found that the number of Gravitational Primeval Rivers inhabited by individuals of the God of Hunger race... numbered at least a dozen.
However, because the spatial distance between one Primeval River and another might be terrifyingly vaster than the diameter of the entire observable universe, and because this group of Gods of Hunger almost exclusively roamed the Primordial-Reach, this historical record—compiled, deduced, and merged from their perspective—did not contain much information about the God of Hunger races in other distant Primeval Rivers.
Once born within the Primeval Rivers, these Gods of Hunger relied on their innate, powerful strength to shuttle through vast space. Like Demon Gods, they wantonly unleashed their power, unscrupulously destroying and devouring thousands of stars, shaking the structure of entire galaxies.
[ They firmly believed themselves to be genuine Earth humans, and felt that since "they" had undoubtedly endured endless years of darkness and solitude, survived the shifting of Cosmic Eras, and weathered infinite suffering to finally pass the trial, then they absolutely deserved, and must receive, a rich reward.
And this boundless universe, encompassing the sky, was the reward granted to them by the God of Gods, the Annihilation Traveler.
All matter, energy, celestial bodies, and galaxies existing within the vast space were theirs to enjoy, theirs to squander.
It was an unalterable, heaven-ordained truth.
Whether they chose to create or destroy, to trample or to protect, it should be entirely up to them to decide. No one had the right to interfere or stop them. ]
This was the genuine, concrete thought and perception of the God of Hunger race.
Indeed, it was just that tyrannical, just that entitled.
However, at the temporal node of their birth, the River of Primordial had already aged a leisurely eight to nine billion years. It had surprisingly developed to a state where civilizations were everywhere you looked, and life races existed in all four domains.
In this era, the overall Ether activity value of the universe was clearly slightly stronger than in later generations.
Therefore, the vast universe, bathed in Ether, had already birthed countless intelligent races, including those based on Carbon, Silicon, Sulfur, Helium, Ammonia, Amines, Nitrogen, Fluorine, Mercury, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Silver, and Iron.
The most powerful among them had even advanced all the technological systems of their civilizations to an extremely high level.
These top-tier civilizations had reached the absolute peak in fields such as free energy and high-density energy development, Ether-Crystalline material research and manufacturing, biological engineering, galactic structural modification, superluminal observation and manipulation, faster-than-light mass-energy and information transmission, quantum computing, and strong artificial intelligence. They also excelled in galactic-scale military preparedness and other technological aspects, as well as in spiritual aspects like philosophy, humanities education, and cultural arts, and in social structural aspects like organizational power, administrative systems, and leadership bodies.
This allowed them to easily straddle and communicate across many Galaxy clusters, conquer and explore even more distant spatial domains, and exert massive active and passive influence on the deeper, vaster cosmos.
Thus, most of these top-tier civilizations ruled over multiple galaxies, some even reaching triple-digit numbers.
Similarly, on the path of life cultivation and evolution, these top-tier civilizations had also produced a significant number of Sage individuals.
Although these individuals could not fully exert their power at a 100% output width because they did not possess the highly practical Divinity-Frame used by the Houiste Federation of later generations.
Yet, relying on various superluminal field manipulation devices researched and manufactured by their own civilizations, they still possessed power beyond the imagination of lower-tier civilizations.
They were the peak combat force of many civilizations, as well as their top rulers and guiding mentors, providing various developmental directives and evolutionary suggestions for the entire civilization.
Under the leadership of these powerful Sage beings, the countless top-tier civilizations influenced and interfered with the myriad intelligent civilizations across the countless galaxies within the Primeval Rivers. This indirectly created patches of relatively balanced, regional cosmic civilizational order.
The overlapping and merging of these numerous regional civilizational orders formed even larger spheres of civilizational order spanning greater spatial ranges.
However, when these vibrant, hyper-prosperous scenes of civilizational glory fell into the eyes of the newborn God of Hunger race, they were instantly provoked into a maddening rage.
Because in the eyes of the Gods of Hunger, the fact that these insignificant creatures dared to occupy so many galaxies and develop such massive civilizations without their permission was simply intolerable!
It was sheer audacity!
Damn them! Damn them all!
In an instant, fueled by sky-high murderous intent, they tore through space, flying toward the numerous interstellar civilizations scattered across every domain and region.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
These sweeping, soaring, and wantonly rampaging Gods of Hunger, relying on their unparalleled power, could stir the vast void with a mere thought. They triggered massive gravitational vortices measured in light-years, shattered thousands of stars, ruthlessly bombarded prosperous Sectors into ruins, and brutally annihilated infinite numbers of living beings into nothingness.
They treated all interstellar civilizations in the universe, big and small, entirely as their hunting grounds and playgrounds.
They laughed maniacally as they wantonly humiliated and played amidst the disasters.
They flew from one Sector to another, hunting for every prosperous and bustling civilization.
Whether it was an intelligent species evolved to an advanced stage or a low-tier race that had just entered the space-faring age, all became prey for the Gods of Hunger, providing endless amusement for their entertainment and hunts.
In the boundless space, the Gods of Hunger competed to display their terrifying power, destroying planets and completely annihilating races.
They relished this sense of control in wantonly slaughtering the masses. They treated the entire dark universe as their stage, freely displaying their tyranny and cruelty.
But the top-tier intelligent civilizations that had established and maintained the current cosmic order naturally would not just sit by and watch these unknown, invading life forms carry out such reckless, wantonly destructive acts.
Therefore, without any surprise, continuous, endless, and intense conflicts and fierce friction immediately erupted between the two sides, or perhaps an extreme-intensity interstellar war.
In an instant, endless high-energy light streams tore through the void, the four fundamental forces churned wildly, the vast Dirac ocean boiled and roared, countless stars wailed and shattered, and the vast universe was turned upside down.
It is unknown how many living beings, how many intelligent civilizations, were completely wiped out, their forms and spirits annihilated, turning into dust in those terrifying wars that easily engulfed tens of millions or even billions of star systems.
During these unimaginably fierce battles, the universe's top-tier civilizations were horrified to discover that this strange, sudden race was so powerful, so powerful that they used Sages as mere foot soldiers.
What kind of concept was this?!
In front of a random squad of their foot soldiers, super Star Destroyer fleets, neutron battle-star clusters, and planet-busting cyborg armies, all were as insignificant and fragile as dust, wiped out with a wave of a hand.
These top-tier civilizations had absolutely no power to resist the God of Hunger race, let alone fight back.
It must be known that among the Sage populations of these top-tier civilizations, there wasn't a single Sage King. High-tier Sages were sparse enough to be counted on one hand; only Mid-tier and Low-tier Sages made up the true majority, serving as the actual core of the civilizations.
But the God of Hunger race, even their lowest-tier existences possessed combat power equivalent to a Low-tier Sage. Stronger mid-level and High-level Gods of Hunger were too numerous to count.
Not to mention the Ultimate Gods of Hunger, whose full power could tear apart a Milky Way, and the Gluttony Kings, who could shake the structure of Galaxy clusters.
Most importantly, any random existence in the God of Hunger race possessed a Holographic Domain that allowed them to fully exert their combat power.
Therefore, they were not restricted by the universe's speed-of-light shackles in the slightest. This advantage was equally terrifying and astonishing, far surpassing the various devices of those top-tier civilizations.
The gap between the two sides in every aspect was simply too colossal, so massive that it left many top-tier civilizations in despair.
Countless civilizations in the universe had no power to resist the trampling of the God of Hunger race. They could only watch helplessly as their civilizations were destroyed, their people slaughtered, and everything turned to dust.
And these thoroughly satisfying massacres brought boundless joy and happiness to the God of Hunger race.
They deeply enjoyed the sensation of wantonly destroying intelligent races and trampling upon intelligent civilizations.
Simultaneously, while waging one massive interstellar war after another, the God of Hunger race unexpectedly discovered many backward races that had not yet left their planets, some even still in the ancient Stone Age.
Thus, they happily descended upon the surfaces of these planets, beginning to enjoy the thrill of playing gods or demon kings.
Like playing the game "Spore", they enthusiastically observed the evolution and development of each intelligent civilization.
While observing, the Gods of Hunger would also interfere with and manipulate these ignorant, low-tier civilizations to satisfy their own desires and the joy of the game.
These Gods of Hunger would sometimes secretly guide these backward, ignorant races in developing technology, and other times they would create various disasters and challenges from behind the scenes. They forced these low-tier civilizations to hover on the brink of extinction, testing their will and intelligence.
Some Gods of Hunger, on a whim, would take twisted delight over millennia in unleashing floods, meteor showers, global hurricanes, super-earthquakes, and terrifying plagues in measured batches upon these primitive races.
Simultaneously, they wouldn't let them go extinct. At critical moments, they would always toss down a few items to allow them to save themselves, forcing them to struggle between pain and hope dozens or hundreds of times, only to ultimately commit mass suicide in despair.
In this manner, the God of Hunger race continuously ravaged countless civilizations across the vast space for eons.
During these countless years, it is unknown how many civilizations they destroyed, how many races they humiliated and played to death.
But the God of Hunger race cared nothing for the feelings of these living beings. They treated the many civilizations of the universe entirely as their own testing grounds and toy boxes.
They used cruelty, sadism, and destruction to satisfy their desires, and used power and control to satisfy their amusement.
In their eyes, the intelligent civilizations scattered across the universe were merely endless entertainment resources, meant to be easily manipulated and consumed by them until the last spark of life was exhausted.
As for the many top-tier civilizations that previously governed and maintained order across various spatial domains, under the relentless and tyrannical attacks of the Gods of Hunger, 99.99% of them tragically perished.
These top-tier civilizations were once the bellwethers for countless civilizations in the vast starry universe. They possessed glorious histories, advanced technology, and powerful strength, holding the fate of many galaxies in their hands.
But under the endless onslaught of the Gods of Hunger, they could only sorrowfully become a part of past history, forgotten in the river of time.
Only a sparse few top-tier civilizations, after exhausting every possible means, managed to escape to the fringes of the universe or hide within super voids, completely concealing themselves.
They concealed their race's dying life fluctuations, concealed their race's precarious civilizational glow.
The flight was fraught with peril. Faced with endless darkness and the unknown, they never abandoned hope or effort. This was the inevitable result of their decision to flee, the final attempt to survive.
After escaping to the desolate frontier, these remnant civilizations of the top-tier powers no longer had the courage to mount any counterattack; they only hoped to survive by the skin of their teeth. They dared not make any bold moves, silently maintaining their fragile existence. Though their technological level remained profound, they no longer possessed the bravery to display it to the outside world.
They waited in silence within the deep cosmos, waiting for the hope of the future to arrive.
Once the last remnants of resistance vanished, the Primordial Rivers, those vast stretches drifting across unknown numbers of galaxies and spanning countless light-years, fell completely under the brutal dominion of the God of Hunger race.
This reign lasted for a leisurely ten-odd billion years.
During these billions of years, the God of Hunger race became the supreme gods ruling over infinite galaxies. No entity or civilization dared to resist their dark, lightless, and cruel tyranny.
Time flowed on, passing through countless ages.
Then, suddenly, one day, a Low-level God of Hunger unexpectedly discovered a planet deep within the Primeval River.
It was Earth.
Yes, in terms of mass, volume, and surface area, it was identical to the Earth of the previous Cosmic Era. It possessed a Sun, a Moon, and the same planetary companions, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
On that New Era Earth, with its seven continents and five oceans, a primitive, incipient Bronze Age civilization had already emerged.
Moreover, the primary subjects of that primitive civilization were identical in appearance and physical structure to the humans of the previous era, Carbon-based humans.
"An Earth... and humans... born so early in this era?"
Puzzled, she couldn't help but continue reading.
She saw that the Low-level God of Hunger who discovered the new Earth, in his haste to report the situation to his kin, was so overwhelmed with excitement that he couldn't think of a proper name for the planet.
Thus, he casually named the new Earth after himself and submitted the report.
And the name of this God of Hunger was... Houiste.