Of course Noldrei had reason to be angry.
When he first arrived in this era, he felt ashamed that he wasn't treating people well enough, merely giving the locals a few small benefits to make them listen and work for him.
It felt like he was handing out two steamed buns to starving people and receiving their undying gratitude.
Back then, Noldrei only treated Kiana somewhat normally, interacting with her according to the way future humans identified their own kind.
But soon, Noldrei realized this was probably too nice for the locals. He had to adjust his behavior and treat them "well" according to their own standards.
Even so, Noldrei didn't consider this "good." He was just exercising his power according to the local ethics and morals. Yet, for some reason, these people acted as if they had been pre-conditioned to think he was a wonderful person.
This left Noldrei feeling a bit overwhelmed by the flattery.
The future human's moral and ethical standards quickly slid down to the level of the locals.
But soon, Noldrei found that the locals' demands grew. They became a bit "ungrateful." Starting with Dr. Tesla, they began to demand more and more emotional validation. Then, one by one, they started "lying flat," letting him, the future man, be both their father and mother.
It was like a country bumpkin moving to the city to become a migrant worker and suddenly feeling that their life was complete, with no greater ambition or pursuit.
Bronya was in this state right now. She was secretly running her own game company, having a blast with her friends behind the scenes, while the Honkai crisis hanging over their heads was being handled by Noldrei and the other seniors.
So why should she still try so hard? It made no sense! I've got Seele in my left arm and the boss of the planet in my right. Everywhere I go, people are my underlings. So why should I work hard?
Although the work of the Academy City Guard was rather bizarre, for her, it was no different from handling some extra AI problems—not particularly difficult. It was troublesome, yes, but not exhausting in the slightest.
However, Noldrei had high moral standards. When he transformed into Seele to provide Bronya with emotional validation, Bronya herself would sometimes mumble Noldrei's name in a daze, often even developing feelings of infidelity.
At those times, Noldrei would decisively scold her, forbidding her from having any special feelings for him. The last person who had special feelings, Dr. Tesla, had already been taught a lesson by Noldrei.
Noldrei felt the locals were absolute animals. He just wanted to ask them to help him think about changing the future of humanity, but these people wanted to take away the last shred of romantic conservatism he possessed.
And yet, now, Noldrei had actually listened to Bronya's suggestion.
The new humans, having reached the era of geneticism, were now qualified to have a conversation with him about the future. He did indeed need a formal meeting to discuss the future development of humanity with everyone.
What? You're saying Noldrei ended up in the wrong place, so why doesn't he just leave and continue searching for his original past?
Noldrei had no such thoughts. He was sent here by the future humans; he didn't break through the barrier of time and space on his own.
His world had no so-called Imaginary energy; it had reached that level of development purely through humanity's own efforts.
Noldrei couldn't fully replicate the crystallization of that era of humanity on his own. It was a completely different game from Otto's method of using Imaginary power to just punch through the Tree and travel through time.
He was very certain that he had no way of returning in the short term. Since he couldn't go back, he would first practice what he was supposed to do in this place.
The location for the meeting was not anywhere on Earth, but rather—
The Stigma Space.
But before that, Noldrei still needed to gather everyone for the next round of discussions about the future's direction.
Kiana was the absolute key to all these problems.
She was the most powerful organizational form among the future Stigma bearers. The Stigma, which stood in opposition to Imaginary power and the Honkai, was a dual-sided force of dominion.
Kiana had to hold the Stigma in her left hand and the Honkai in her right. Both had to be displayed at the appropriate time to establish the authority and credibility of the new era's rule.
This was a classic political system of concentrated, monarch-like power.
Noldrei's next move was the same as emperors throughout history: throw the Crown Princess out to test the direction of humanity's future reforms, and then let Kiana herself try to grasp that direction and its risks.
What? You're saying modern politics is the same?
The incumbent lets the successor test the incumbent's policies, then reverse-engineers their own governing philosophy to make some patches and modifications.
As if there had been no progress at all, a hapless humanity was still using the same old methods of practice.
---||---
Noldrei did not maintain his human form but reverted to his mud-monster state, roaming through Academy City.
No one could track him, nor could anyone pinpoint his location.
He was like a true ghost, merged with the entire city.
A new corporate system was being established. In this system, the collective situation of humanity was determined by the direction of genetic modification.
Companies would determine the future genetic development of their employees based on their own production direction. At the same time, new Stigma battlesuits would become common within companies, and tools like clocking in for work were completely obsolete.
The state of Stigma enfeoffment that Otto had spoken of had already appeared. Stigma creators would attract corresponding employees based on their own philosophies, while at the same time abandoning the original capitalist organizational form. Humanity began to pursue a dynamic combination of ideology and genetic form.
Due to the nature of the Stigma, ideology within companies had reached a nearly transparent stage.
Like-minded humans would gather together more extremely, and these people would engage in more determined internal division of labor and cooperation.
"Company" had become a fig leaf within Academy City; they were merely groups divided by the same ideology.
This form of organization had completely surpassed the family structure of the old human civilization. This was because the Stigma organization also accommodated parts of human reproduction and education, but it still required an application to the upper echelons of Academy City to access reproductive rights.
The new humans had entered a new era. The people of Academy City could no longer go back to the past to find a so-called soulmate.
Noldrei had brought them to this point. The struggles of the future would inevitably be a clash of various ideologies.
If it weren't for Imaginary power, Noldrei was certain that the humans here would follow the exact same path as the humans of his era.
But with Imaginary power, this world-breaking bug...
Noldrei felt that perhaps, in this world, he could forge a path for humanity...
...a future that was not so tragic.
But how was he supposed to walk this path?
"The humans who sent me here never actually tried this themselves."
Noldrei fell into a tragic state. His prophet's cheat code was beginning to fade, bit by bit.