As each historical slideshow was presented, Jason was deeply moved.

Such massive underground lava canals were unimaginable for a primitive society! How much labor would that have required? How many lives had to be sacrificed to carve them out?

Keep in mind that this was entirely underground, making the engineering far more difficult than digging the greatest continental canals on Earth! Furthermore, magma slowly cools and solidifies into solid rock. Once a canal was completed, it required constant, dangerous maintenance to keep the flow active, further multiplying the workload.

This colossal lava river was a triumph for the ruling class and a tragedy for the slaves... but at the same time, it successfully sustained a much larger population. It was a truly remarkable achievement. The Nix people rarely needed physical crops; their digestive systems primarily extracted necessary trace nutrients from their environment, while their primary biological energy source was absorbed geothermal heat.

Only the slaves were forced to consume large amounts of physical sustenance to make up for their grueling energy expenditure, and they inevitably lived short, brutal lives.

Seeing the immense benefits, other tribes began to follow suit. However, digging these canals required a massive labor force, leading them to wage endless wars solely to capture more slaves.

The boundless glory of this era belonged exclusively to the scholars and the ruling class. From a historical perspective, the slaves were the ones who sacrificed everything. Armed with the most rudimentary tools, they forged an epic of greatness. The blood and tears they shed could not be replaced even by a hundred rivers of lava!

The remains of one such massive lava river still lie beneath Thor City. Unfortunately, as millennia passed, it was entirely filled in by solidified magma and rock. People can no longer see its original, terrifying glory.

The era of slavery lasted for an agonizingly long time. The lethal work of maintaining the canals could only be done by expendable slaves. Dynasties rose and fell, violent slave revolts swept through the underground, and waves of bloodshed painted the caverns... but the core institution of slavery remained untouched.

As long as the lava rivers existed, slaves had to exist.

"The societal development here is quite different from human history. Their feudal systems and slavery coexisted simultaneously, and no matter how strong the opposition grew, slavery endured..."

However, scientific progress did not halt because of bloodshed, slaughter, and exploitation. The Great Sage class of the Nix Civilization, their equivalent of scientists had always remained detached from mundane politics.

Throughout their history, the Nix never ceased their pursuit of wisdom. Empire’s changes had little impact on the intellectual class. Several powerful tribes eventually unified to form sovereign states, and wars frequently broke out between them. Yet, all rulers treated engineers and scientists with the utmost reverence.

Without engineers, a nation’s infrastructure would quickly crumble; without scientists, its technology would inevitably be surpassed by rival states.

The Nix scientists continued to study magma, aiming to explore its potential applications beyond mere thermal heat. And so, the centuries passed.

War is the greatest catalyst for science, and survival pressure fuels technological growth. The environment of their home world was far too harsh. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes could easily wipe out thousands of lives in an instant. The protection provided by a lava river was simply not enough. The Nix desperately needed a more powerful industrial foundation to combat nature!

As time progressed, mathematics, engineering, and mechanics emerged, bringing greater power to the species and deepening the civilization’s reverence for intellect.

Finally... the twenty-second Great Sage in their history, "Conrad," established a modern chemical system!

Modern chemistry was born!

This was an unprecedented breakthrough. It meant they finally possessed a fundamental understanding of the various microscopic substances comprising their world. They discovered the existence of oxygen for the first time and attempted to create genuine combustion.

"The first organic combustion event in Nix history was achieved by Great Sage Conrad! He ignited wood fibers in a synthesized pure oxygen environment."

Hearing this, Jason felt a pang of profound sadness.

Only after inventing modern chemistry and understanding the very nature of combustion were the Nix able to synthesize small amounts of oxygen and utilize the chemical fires that humanity took for granted from the dawn of its existence.

In comparison, humanity had been incredibly fortunate. Mother Earth had been so kind to them!

However, even with the advent of chemistry, their society remained entirely reliant on slavery. Many industrial jobs were still lethal and required slave labor. Chemistry didn’t change their grim reality much.

Because the atmospheric oxygen content was practically zero, synthesizing it chemically was an arduous task. Even industrial methods for atmospheric extraction were exceptionally complex and costly. Most importantly... oxygen was highly toxic to their biology!

Up to this point, chemistry hadn’t been revolutionary in daily life. At best, it improved the luxuries of the wealthy class, but it didn’t fundamentally alter the structure of society. Still, it laid the crucial groundwork for subsequent scientific leaps.

Until... three hundred years later, the twenty-fifth Great Sage, "Dalton," discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction.

A comprehensive technological explosion began.

A Nix historian recorded this moment with fervent excitement: "It was an ordinary day, yet an extraordinary one. A tremendous mechanical roar echoed from the lava river, followed by frantic shouts from everyone in the city... Geothermal generators have appeared in this world!"

This scientific giant had actually invented the geothermal generator based on electromagnetic induction! It triggered a truly monumental shift across their entire civilization!

"...Electricity was a magnificent beam of light that suddenly pierced the underground world. It grew from a fragile infant to an unstoppable giant in just three years, strangling the darkness! For the first time, our world seemed truly bright."

"Dalton’s invention rightfully earned him the title of Great Sage, a status that even the rulers of enemy nations could not dispute..."

"Among the twenty-five Great Sages in our history, he is undoubtedly the greatest! Electricity is known to us as the Light of Wisdom!"

The Electric Age arrived with explosive suddenness!

"Like a whirlwind, it swept across the entire underground world! The darkness receded, and the Nix Civilization was reborn, ushering in a new era! A great era!"

Hearing this historical account, everyone in the conference room was filled with excitement. In that moment, they felt as though they had transformed into Nix citizens, witnessing firsthand the miraculous rise of a civilization from darkness to glory.

Even though the tragic extinction of this civilization was already a known fact, people still rejoiced at the story of its ascent. It was like watching an eagle spread its wings, or a butterfly break free from its chrysalis!

It was a deeply moving sensation, a profound appreciation for the beauty of civilizational progress. Species might differ, but emotions and struggles were universal. Every sentient race had the right to fight for a better future.

In the Nix, humanity saw a reflection of its own rise. From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, and the birth of modern science, every step forward for humankind had been hard-won. The audience was moved by their own shared history and by the sacrifices of these alien pioneers.

Yet, the history of the Nix Civilization was far heavier and more oppressive. Humanity had experienced brutal dark ages, but for the Nix, every historical milestone was steeped in cruelty.

The advent of electricity was truly as warm as a rising sun for them. They finally saw something called "hope."

They could finally escape the stranglehold of energy scarcity. They could finally stand tall in a world without fire!

The machine known as the "geothermal steam generator" spread rapidly. The conservative rulers who attempted to suppress its proliferation... were promptly sent to the guillotine by revolutionaries! This was an unstoppable trend!

The lava rivers were still essentially magma, but they had gained a miraculous new function... power generation!

Geothermal steam generators operated much like thermal power plants, converting heat into electricity via steam turbines. This seemingly simple extra step resulted in an astronomical leap in industrial capacity.

Magma provided an enormous amount of thermal energy, but raw heat was inefficient for advanced industry. Furthermore, magma constantly radiated heat, resulting in massive energy waste. By harnessing it to generate electricity through large power plants, the usable energy output increased more than a hundredfold.

The Electric Age of the Nix Civilization developed at breakneck speed, with electrical power rapidly replacing the primitive thermal heat of magma as the ultimate driver of industry.