...Four thousand years had passed since the invention of written language within the Nix Civilization. Their long, dark night was finally broken by the advent of electricity, bringing the first true light of dawn.

However, during those four thousand years, the worship of "magma" had become deeply ingrained among their religious institutions, a vast majority of the common people, and the ruling class. Since electrical energy was ultimately derived from geothermal heat, the invention of generators didn’t cause any immediate theological crises.

To the Nix, magma was equivalent to primitive humanity’s reverence for "fire" or the "sun." In fact, it was even more profound—it was the core of their faith.

Magma was a tangible force the Nix could interact with; it was their literal source of life! Given their primitive understanding of chemistry, they couldn’t comprehend how anything could remain scorching hot for millennia without consuming itself, yet magma... somehow did it!

Therefore, this lack of scientific understanding led the Nix to universally believe in a "First Cause" that kept the endless magma rivers burning hot. This eternal driving force could only be attributed to a divine entity.

This was a deeply entrenched cultural tradition, a ghost haunting their collective consciousness, an immovable mindset.

But the Great Sages—their master scientists—attempted to attribute this infinite energy to the fundamental nature of atoms. In fact, they proposed a radical new theory: atoms could be split, and tremendous energy could be harvested from this division!

This theory... effectively denied the existence of God! Yes, such thinking was absolute blasphemy!

While Great Sage Dalton was alive, the religious factions were somewhat restrained. They didn’t dare make any underhanded moves against him due to his terrifyingly formidable reputation and his adept political maneuvering.

But after Dalton passed away, there was no one left to suppress the zealots. A famous scientist who was researching atomic fission was dragged out of his laboratory and thrown into a lava lake by fanatical cultists!

The scientific class, filled with decades of repressed anger, a class that had historically remained detached from worldly affairs—waged an unprecedented ideological war against religion. It was a movement akin to a "Scientific Renaissance"...

History often unfolds with such striking similarities; sometimes, it is even chillingly precise.

Jason shuddered, goosebumps rising all over his body as he listened to the presentation. But upon closer examination, it made perfect sense. As science progressed to a critical threshold, geniuses would inevitably step forward to fight against religious obscurantism and establish a materialist philosophical framework.

This was simply another inevitable turning point in the evolution of civilization!

During that era of persecution, many Nix scientists fled their homelands and sought refuge in Thor City, located in the neutral state of Balgaria. Thor City was their most progressive, enlightened metropolis and coincidentally, the primary excavation site the Federation was currently exploring.

In Thor City, these exiled Sages, fueled by lofty ambitions, sought to uncover the true nature of magma’s energy. They wanted to find undeniable proof that "gods" did not exist, aiming to deliver a fatal, undeniable blow to religious dogma!

Naturally, many religious leaders still firmly believed that the concept of atomic fission was completely absurd. They dismissed the scientists’ theories as lunacy. The ideological class struggle had not yet reached its boiling point or triggered a full-blown physical war.

Until... a groundbreaking genius emerged.

"Oppenheimer, the Twenty-Sixth Great Sage, proposed the theory of special relativity and the mass-energy equivalence equation E=mc², forcing a massive turning point in this cold war."

"He mathematically proved that the energy within the magma did indeed come from atomic interactions!"

"’God said, let there be Oppenheimer! And all was light.’ This was the epitaph later generations of Nix etched for him. By then, of course, their religions were no longer the fanatical, violent cults of the past."

Oppenheimer was absolutely a top-tier genius, entirely on par with Dalton. His monumental innovations were never surpassed by later generations. This Great Sage was truly terrifying. It was as if a man living in the Steam Age had suddenly derived special relativity and invented nuclear physics!

His work forcefully and undeniably shattered the illusion of "gods"!

Oppenheimer’s discoveries enraged and terrified the religious zealots. The foundation of their faith began to crumble, which was absolutely unacceptable. Unable to win the debate through logic or mathematics, they resorted to violence!

Thus began their First Religious War, a conflict that quickly escalated to the scale of a global World War.

The progression of the war was self-evident. Because of electricity, chemical oxidizers could be mass-produced, leading to the widespread proliferation of firearms. They even deployed massive armored airships in the cavernous skies, which served as their ultimate weapons of war at the time.

This was a brutal war between the scientific elite and the church—a struggle between two upper echelons of society. It mirrored humanity’s historical struggles between the Church and secular rulers; a bloody clash between "divine right" and "imperial right"!

Thor City, as the sanctuary for scientists, naturally became the epicenter of this global conflict. Fanatical religious armies attempted to re-establish the authority of their gods using the blood of the Sages.

The war dragged on for seven agonizing years, dragging in more than 70% of the subterranean nations, until a blinding mushroom cloud finally erupted on the Nix home world...

An atomic bomb!

The debut of this apocalyptic superweapon instantly vaporized a massive enemy city, incinerating 200,000 people in a fraction of a second. The sheer, unfathomable destruction sent a deathly chill down the spines of even the most fanatical religious zealots.

...And thus, the World War was brought to an abrupt, terrifying halt.

The atomic bomb, with its unparalleled violent aesthetics and fleeting, god-like brilliance, was the ultimate weapon the scientific class used to challenge the divine. The mass-energy equivalence equation had been brutally validated by nuclear hellfire.

"From this day forward, we shall be... our own gods!" Great Sage Oppenheimer declared with supreme pride at the end of the war.

The religious factions suffered a crushing, total defeat. The war officially ended following the mass suicides of several high priests and popes. The conflict was over, and the golden age of atomic energy had officially begun!

Thanks to the monumental discoveries of Great Sage Oppenheimer, the Nix people finally severed their absolute dependence on magma. They transitioned to... nuclear power!

Nuclear fission once again astronomically expanded their available energy output. Furthermore, they were overjoyed to discover that their planet’s surface was practically overflowing with incredibly rich uranium deposits. They had enough easily accessible nuclear fuel to last them for... a hundred thousand years!

"A hundred thousand years!"

"Yes, their surface uranium reserves were so absurdly abundant that they could have sustained their entire civilization’s energy needs for over 100,000 years! And that doesn’t even factor in deep-core or unexplored deposits."

One hundred thousand years. To anyone, that number felt like a functional eternity. The Nix people had ushered in the happiest, most prosperous era in their history.

The historical conference had been running for over three hours. Everyone had been intensely analyzing and debating the data, and they were mentally exhausted. It was time for a lunch break.

Jason slowly sorted through his complicated emotions. The first half of the Nix’s history was drowned in bloodshed and violence, with only fleeting glimmers of hope. But overall, this Chapter of their story ended on a triumphant note.

The advent of nuclear energy was a qualitative evolutionary leap. It finally freed the Nix from the brutal constraints of energy scarcity and their reliance on the treacherous magma rivers.

History always progressed through violent twists and turns. There was no progress without immense sacrifice, and this applied not just to the Nix, but to humanity as well. Human progress had always been paid for in blood and war.

A civilization can only be reborn from the ashes of its own ruins... That was simply the cruel reality of the universe.

"Let’s go, time for lunch," Jason muttered subconsciously, walking toward the exit on his own.

Lily was stunned for a moment, letting out a soft sigh before hurrying after him.

Jason’s mind was still racing.

After all, the Nix were completely extinct. This meant the second half of the conference was going to be an incredibly grim affair. He needed to mentally prepare himself...

The two of them walked past a staging table where several logistics robots were distributing the physical briefing packets for the second half of the meeting. Jason instinctively reached out to grab one, but his hand froze mid-air...

Seeing the somber, stiff, and utterly dejected expressions on the faces of the Department Heads who were already reading ahead, he suddenly realized it was better not to ruin his appetite.

Despite his hesitation, Jason couldn’t resist throwing a quick glance at the cover of the briefing packet. His face immediately turned pale as a horrifying thought crossed his mind...

"Let’s go, let’s go. We’ll read it after we eat..."

Regardless of what was coming, he needed a proper meal. A full stomach would give him the strength to face the terrifying truths ahead. Sometimes, remaining ignorant of the Great Filter for just an hour longer was its own kind of bliss.

Jason suppressed his morbid curiosity and pulled Lily away from the table.

The two walked into the cafeteria together. It was set up buffet-style, allowing the crew to grab whatever they wanted.

"You should really eat less fried food... like those french fries. If only we had internal ’thermonuclear organs’ like some sci-fi species, we could save so much time on eating and just recharge our energy while we sleep," Jason teased, watching Lily pile a massive mound of fries onto her tray.

Lily glared at him irritably and reluctantly pushed half the fries back into the serving tray.

Deep down, however, she completely disagreed with his joke about thermonuclear organs. If they didn’t need to eat, wouldn’t the entire concept of "delicious food" cease to exist? What kind of sad existence would that be?