The Martial Unity

Chapter 3359: Antithesis

Rui huffed, shaking his head. ”Don’t bother, there are, like, hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million Martial Squires at this point. You’re not going to be able to label all of them in the Tree of Life at this point.”

”We elves are meticulous.” Her eyes lit up with challenge. ”And an expert on deep evolutionary biology, I refuse to succumb to this obstacle.”

”Uh huh.” Rui threw a strange gaze.

Elves could be strangely stubborn about the strangest of things.

”As for your species...” she murmured, eying him up and down. ”Your Martial Path is adaptive evolution. And it defines your body. Your very existence is greatly geared towards antithetically countering everything in your path, so how about...”

Her elderly eyes lit up with an epiphany.

”Homo antithesis.”

Rui’s eyes widened as he froze.

The air tingled with anticipation.

The atmosphere grew profoundly charged with an almost euphoric deja vu.

”Mmm... I like it,” the elder Mother nodded, as she noted it down. ”As always, my naming sense is the best. I have named thousands of species, but this is might be the best name that I have come up with. ”It’s so elegant...”

She continued murmuring to herself, pondering species names.

”Homo Antithesis...” the faintest of whispers escaped Rui.

It appeared that she didn’t understand the significance of her choice. If she truly came up with that on the spot, then perhaps it was a sign of sorts. Rui couldn’t help but think back to the revelations of the Virodhabhasa Faith that Transcendent Raizel had passed on to him fourteen years ago when he visited the Virodhabhasa Theocracy.

”A civilizational self-fulfilling prophecy, hm?”

The Transcendent had created the religion to engineer an outcome through the collective self-fulfilling prophecy of countless people.

And it had succeeded, even if Rui were to say so himself.

If not for what the Martial Transcendent had done, Rui would have never been born.

His Martial Path would have never come into existence.

After all, the Silas Clan would not exist without the religion, and his father would have never found them and fallen in love with Miriam, his biological mother.

It was an impressive feat of manipulating fate itself through causality without using the power of Transcendence.

”Homo Antithesis.”

Rui’s tone was a little firmer.

To him, it was the perfect word to describe what species he was.

It represented the causality of why he had come to be, who he was at heart, and who he aimed to truly become with Project Water.

”Homo Antithesis.”

His tone became more confident.

He felt himself taking one more step, even if a very small one, down his Martial Path.

”Do you like it?” Mother Vyia smiled gently as her attention returned to him. ”I’m sorry for derailing the conversation, but naming new species is one of my favorite hobbies, you see. Although I usually limit my passions to new flora species, naming a new homo species is quite fun as well. Ah, if you don’t like it, then I can change it—”

”It’s perfect.”

Rui’s tone was certain.

She gazed at him with knowing elder eyes as her smile widened.

”I’m glad to hear that.” Her gaze returned to the three-dimensional model of an ancient civilization. ”Back to the main point, homo sapien civilization thrived for millennia as it took many years to become a full Type 1 civilization, which harnessed the power of the entire planet. It would likely have gone on to become a Type 2 civilization in the future if not for...”

Her elder eyes grew shady.

”...tragedy.”

Rui directed a knowing look at her.

”The Epoch of Evolution².”

It referred to the event that had happened 187,000 years ago that destroyed human civilization and ravaged the planet. The Epoch of Evolution was an extinction event that created an era of evolution in human beings on six different continents.

It had created an era where homo sapiens evolved into six different species on six different continents.

”We call that era the Era of Tumult,” she remarked with hazy eyes. ”The Epoch of Evolution wasn’t an ordinary extinction event; it was an event that changed the entire planet, causing it to undergo tumultuous environmental, geological, and climate change. Even the planet began growing bigger and more massive in some geological phenomenon that we don’t understand. Hence, the ’Era of Tumult.’”

”Wait...” Rui’s eyes widened. ”The planet began growing bigger because of the Epoch of Evolution?”

She nodded. ”We elves have documented it the most, thanks to our extensive flora network, allowing us a high-definition picture of the entire tectonic plate that Genora rests upon. And the joint international body of the International Institute of Gaian History has computed extensive data on the history of the continent. The planet gained more mass in a phenomenon we don’t entirely understand, although in hindsight...”

She directed a pointed gaze at Rui.

”I am absolutely certain that it has something to do with the Panama Continent. Planets don’t just randomly become bigger by massive degrees.”

Rui’s expression grew grave. ”...Era of Tumult indeed.”

”It wasn’t just the planet that changed, however,” she gazed up knowingly. ”Evidence suggests that even our Sun has changed greatly. The radiation from the Sun that we can measure by studying chemical processes of old suggests that it has grown stronger, although the magnetic field protecting our planet has also grown stronger.”

”...so you mean to say that the Epoch of Evolution wasn’t just a phenomenon that affected the planet but also the Sun?” Rui’s eyes widened with shock. ”Or, more likely, it is possible that changes in the Sun caused the Epoch of Evolution.”

”The latter would make more sense,” she remarked with a nod. ”All powerhouses have studied the Sun with all of our Dyson Spheres that constantly harness energy from it, but we have not been able to uncover the truth behind the changes in the radiation or volume of the Sun. It is all a mystery that eludes even us. But none of these mysteries compares to the mystery of the Lost Continent.”

Her elderly eyes bore deep into Rui’s.

”What happened 187,000 years ago that caused the Panama Continent to gain esoteric substances and then get trapped in a four-dimensional space-time manifold so exquisitely perfect that it eluded even our gravitational quantum sensors?”

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2: Chapter 3117.