Chapter 481: 10,000 Years of Civilization
Deciding to settle, the Eryndor tribe returned to the home of the first Eryndor race, Ugur.
Back on the undulating plains, where he first built the statue of their God, Ugur couldn't help but smile.
Because of his reinforcement, despite hundreds of years passing, the statue remained intact, standing gloriously on the ground.
Performing ceremonies and praying to their God, they began to work and develop their civilization.
To ensure future generations could multiply freely without worrying about the dangers of this world, they needed a strong foothold.
Soon, tens of thousands of Eryndor set out to build towering walls.
Stretching from east to west, the walls resembled a coiling dragon, blocking any monster that dared to trespass into their territory.
As time passed and the walls surrounded the land, infrastructure also began to take shape.
Residential structures, warehouses, roads, bridges, ports, sewage systems, dams, markets, factories, administrative buildings, parks, banks—all began to rise.
The minds of the Eryndor race seemed to open up, building everything that would benefit them for generations to come.
With the rapid development of their civilization, invention after invention appeared.
From wagons to boats, to mills and irrigation systems, to brick and mortar, to loom and lathe.
The Eryndor race also began producing paper, preserving all the knowledge they learned and discovered.
Although they had bloodline inheritance, the knowledge of one or two individuals was incomparable to that of an entire civilization.
As the Eryndor tribe grew to a hundred thousand, the problem of energy began to arise.
With advancing inventions and infrastructure needing to be built, the mere power of wind and water was no longer enough.
Fortunately, the intelligence of the Eryndor race was among the highest in the world.
Gathering all the materials they could find, they began experimenting rigorously.
They first considered the power of lightning, but Ugur, the leader of the tribe, found it too unreliable.
Although nature's power was strong, it was not enough to satisfy their ambition.
Instead, Ugur looked to the overflowing energy in the atmosphere, sensed only by those who had reached the Tier 1 realm. He believed it held massive potential.
Although they couldn't consciously absorb this invisible energy, it swirled around them whenever they advanced, nudging them to the higher realms.
If they could harness this power, not only would their energy problem be solved, but it could also open an unprecedented path.
Under Ugur's orders, the Eryndor tribe hurriedly moved toward this vision.
Finding materials that could emit, absorb, store, isolate, and amplify the energy they called mana, they began developing various tools to harness its power.
With enough material to work with, the first thing they built was weapons.
Almost a thousand years had passed since Ugur, the first Eryndor, was born.
In the beginning, their only enemies were Tier 1 and Tier 2 monsters.
However, as nearly a thousand years went by, a Tier 3 monster appeared.
Tearing down the walls that took generations to build, the monster rampaged through the Eryndor Sanctuary, causing numerous injuries and widespread destruction.
Fortunately, most of the tribe had already reached the Tier 2 realm.
With their large numbers and strong combat abilities, they repelled and killed the monster before it could cause more casualties.
This was a wake-up call.
Although they were growing stronger, so too were the dangers of the world.
By developing mana-based weapons, they began curbing the invasion of Tier 3 monsters by actively hunting them.
Using the bodies of Tier 3 monsters, Ugur and the other top combatants of the tribe began advancing to the next realm.
However, they were not complacent, knowing that stronger monsters would inevitably appear from time to come.
As they continued to develop their civilization, they studied the nature of mana, improving their weapons and technology.
A thousand years passed, and the Eryndor race multiplied into millions.
Their mana-based weapons and technology had reached the Tier 3 realm, easily suppressing the Tier 4 monsters that appeared.
Unfortunately, despite the prosperous development of the Eryndor race, they encountered a bottleneck.
They thought they could reach the Tier 4 realm by simply continuing as they were.
However, after consuming Tier 4 monsters without rest, no one showed signs of advancement.
It was as if they were cursed, limiting how high they could ascend.
Although they could easily defeat Tier 4 monsters with their mana weapons, they began to dread the appearance of Tier 5 monsters.
Under the threat of destruction, the entire Eryndor Race stopped everything to figure out the next step of advancement.
As millions of wills clashed in hope and prayer to their God, a spark suddenly emerged within them.
"It's the mana! The way we use mana is too rough, like animals acting on instinct! Our bodies are the most precise, like the most complicated mana technology. The way we circulate mana is the key to our advancement!"
With this conclusion from one of their sages, the Eryndor race began delving deep into mana, discovering different types and elements of it.
They also started examining their bodies, even though they believed their bodies were sacred gifts from God and should not be desecrated.
But Ugur, their leader, thought otherwise. Their God had given them everything, from their very lives to the world around them.
It would be ignorant not to appreciate God's miracles.
If they could study nature and mana, how could they not study God's greatest gift—their own lives?
Under this ideology, eliminating all kinds of heresy, they began studying the biology of all animals, plants, monsters, and especially themselves.
After hundreds of years of rigorous deduction and experimentation, they thoroughly understood how each type and element of mana worked, how it interacted with the world, and how it enhanced it.
Armed with this knowledge, Ugur began circulating mana through his body, following the meridian paths, merging it with his body and soul.
As his body reached its peak and was about to advance, Ugur encountered a barrier.
"This—this is my ability!"
Familiar with his own body, he realized his ability, the Eye of the Dragonfly, was too weak to carry him through an advancement.
Unless he wanted to discard this ability entirely, he would never progress.
"No, I can do this!"
Ugur held the hope of millions of Eryndor. He was their ancestor, protector, and leader, showing them their path.
He had to be stronger, fearless, and indomitable. He couldn't lead his people down a failed, crooked path that would destroy their future.
With determination and iron will, Ugur held the surging mana in his body and began to deduce the evolution of his ability.
With the hope and will of millions of consciousnesses clashing with his thoughts and aiding him, Ugur broke through all limits and deduced their ultimate path of advancement.
"Breakthrough!"
With a final push, Ugur successfully broke through to the Tier 4 realm, carrying the hope and dreams of the Eryndor race.
With his eyes changing color, deep like chaos, his Eye of the Dragonfly evolved into the Eye of the Dragon of Time.
"I succeeded... I showed you the path. Now, you only need to follow..."
…
10,000 years had passed since the birth of the first innate Eryndor.
Under Ugur's leadership, the Eryndor Race progressed by leaps and bounds.
From a population of millions, there were now hundreds of billions of Eryndors.
Centering around the Eryndor Sanctuary, the holy land of their race, cities after cities emerged from the land.
Their power was no longer comparable to the past.
The monsters they once feared were now consciously being farmed.
The bottlenecks they once faced had become problems so simple that even children could solve them.
The land they occupied, though seemingly infinite, began to be mapped.
Ten thousand years had passed, and the Eryndors had evolved from living in grass and rocks to building a prosperous civilization.
All things passed, and all things changed, but the one constant among the Eryndor race was their Almighty God, ever present in their hearts.
They remained devout followers, and despite their immense strength and knowledge, they held firm in their belief.
Advancing to tier 7, Ugur gazed at the vast territory they had conquered.
From the land to the seas and the skies, the Eryndor thrived without pause.
Looking at the invisible barrier in the sky, Ugur yearned for more.
With his ability, the Eye of the Dragon of Time, now advanced to the Eye of the Primordial of Time, he became more attuned to the essence of time.
As he gazed upon the barrier, watching as it accelerated their time, Ugur knew it was their God granting them the time to grow, to become stronger, and to prepare for the inevitable.
As the barrier began to dim and their time about to return normal, Ugur knew a revolution was approaching their world.
Whether good or bad, beneficial or detrimental, Ugur knew one thing: the Eryndor Race had to win.
They had to continue to live, to spread the name of their God, and to keep His name eternal.
"The outside world, we are ready for you..."