Chapter 75: Sixty-six: Meeting
The tool shop is located at the boundary between the Central District and the North City District, close to the eastern district. This area is densely populated, with many people possessing the buying power—northward lies the Noble District, where the gentlemen with firearm certificates always hope the guns in their hands can work faster, better, and more accurately; eastward is the civilian-populated Eastern District, where commoners, various low-tier Transcendents, and harbor travelers reside. The low-tier Transcendents all strive to buy themselves a gun (whether they have a certificate or not, because the issuance of firearm certificates is very stringent. Except for Church personnel and members of the Transcendent Guild, one must have a certain annual salary, someone to vouch for them, and also need to present proof of tax payments from the recent years to acquire a firearm certificate.), and those travelers, such as Tech Hunters who delve into the deadly lands to uncover pre-era technology, tend to arm themselves to the teeth.
Moreover, Tech Hunters have exceedingly high requirements for firearms, as they are likely the only group of people who have witnessed ancient weaponry from the previous era.
Speaking of eras, Malin thought the people of this world were quite headstrong. According to the Church’s records, the world had entered its sixth era, meaning civilization had been interrupted five times, yet each time, the seed of civilization managed to stubbornly ignite the darkness after the apocalypse.
The first great destruction is undateable; records in the books indicate it happened at least ten thousand years ago (the exact year is completely undateable). An explosion that shook the entire world, some of the forbidden lands on this continent stem from that era. It is said that without lead-lined full body equipment, a large output of Spell Scrolls, or high-tier Transcendents, it would be impossible to survive there (Malin felt all the major explosions must have been nuclear bombings. It is said that Tech Hunters, wearing protective gear and using Spell Scrolls daily, can live safely there for at least four months. There must be at least one year between two explorations. Considering the half-lives of radioactive elements such as caesium, strontium, and gadolinium, the recorded years by the Church should not be too far off).
The first era existed before the first great destruction, followed by the second era.
The second great destruction came from an invasion by the different kind; in the second millennium after the first great destruction, the invasion slaughtered the world to the point of desolation, and the flame of civilization for nearly all races was extinguished. But in the end, when the era of the Rift Tide ended, the different kind were banished back to the Subspace, and the surviving races once again began to return to the surface.
The third great destruction occurred a thousand years after the second great destruction. A cold wave that swept the entire world caused incalculable losses. Some northern races were entirely wiped out—even the Dwarves from the north had died out once—only a group employed as craftsmen by humans survived, and they became the common ancestors of the northern Dwarves thereafter.
The fourth great destruction followed in the third millennium after the third, where a civil war within the millennium-long Empire once again opened the rifts to the Subspace. Humans suffered heavy losses in this destruction, and some families that had been continuing their lineage since the first great destruction were wiped out. However, humanity managed to fend off the onslaught from the Chaos different kind, but because of the massive losses, they were forced to retract, abandoning vast lands, and civilization began to regress. To this day, some wild ruins from the fourth era can still be found.
The fifth great destruction stemmed from the regression of civilization following the fourth. Not until a century ago was this decline contained. Various race’s historical records mourn this period; during the fourth era, all races had developed civilizations far superior to the present. However, after one invasion by the different kind, due to loss of too many people, many technologies even experienced a generational gap. For instance, among the collections of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest are some items clearly identifiable as guns from the fourth era, whose metal composition remains unanalyzable to this day.
Malin had a glance and could only say that due to the severe damage, he could only recognize it as a gun, but as for whatever else was there, he couldn’t make it out.