You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

Originally, this was just an internal battle between races, but after they lost control of their power and destroyed their home planet, something unpredictable happened…

The home planet holds different meanings for each race.

Humans cherish their home planet immensely, literally regarding it as their "mother," but to the Silver Clan, it is merely an ordinary planet of some sentimental value.

Depending on their culture and way of thinking, each race has its own way of treating its home planet.

However, in everyone's mind, if you remove the halo of "mother planet", it is indeed just an ordinary planet in the vast sea of ​​stars.

No one could have imagined that the destruction of their home planet would have such a profound impact on the Hero Race.

It felt like a virus, a plague, that the unstable mental state spread rapidly within the Hero Clan and no one was spared. This restlessness quickly escalated into berserk behavior, causing the Hero Clan, caught in a civil war, to completely lose their minds.

An unprecedented war that wiped out an entire star field wiped out two-thirds of the Hero Race's population and created the hellish landscape before everyone's eyes...

After that, the Hero Clan seemed to be cursed; individuals could not come into contact with each other, and any encounter was likely to escalate into battle. The so-called clans and factions vanished, eventually evolving into unrestrained infighting among all members.

If more than three heroes meet and fight, they are very likely to enter a "frenzy" state, indiscriminately attacking all life around them, and will fight until they die!

By this time, the Heroes had transformed from wandering heroes welcomed by the stars into calamities of destruction, with countless planets being annihilated in their battles.

Finally, the Golden Clan could no longer tolerate this and suppressed the entire race, leaving only a handful of survivors. It is said that they were bound to varying degrees based on their individual power attributes, destined to eternally atone for the sins of this universe...

"It's a regrettable story."

After listening, Alpha calmly commented, "But there are countless examples of self-destruction in every world. The Hero Race will suffer the consequences because of the existence of the more powerful Golden Race."

This shows that only power can truly define justice—Alpha kept this in mind, her beautiful eyes turning to the thoughtful Iori.

"Curse, plague..."

Iori slowly shook her head, gazing into the depths of the starry sky in a daze: "Mother planet... [Golden Race]..."

"Lord Aizen?"

"The nature of the matter only changed after the destruction of the Hero Race's home planet."

It's just a planet. Logically speaking, even if it exploded nearby, it wouldn't cause such a huge change for the [Hero Race]. It certainly wouldn't cause them to go berserk due to shock or injury.

So… is there something special about their home planet, or does the [Hero Race] have a special affection for their home planet, like humanity's affection for Earth, or even something more profound…? Interesting!

Iori raised her hand, and ripples spread across the surface of the Uranus, causing it to "slowly" move through the powder keg-like star field without triggering any violent reactions.

"We are now... ahead is the core area of ​​the star field. According to the detection, there is nothing there, but it is the quietest place in the star field."

Beta adjusted his glasses: "Lord Aizen, shall we rest in the 'eye of the storm'?"

"That's one purpose, but I'd rather see..."

Iori didn't say what her purpose was, but simply guided Uranus forward, arriving at the core area without any disturbance. However, she encountered an unexpected obstacle when entering.

"This, this is!"

"We didn't detect it before... but how could there be such a massive energy field?"

"Silver-white...this is the shield of the Silver Clan..."

"No."

Iori shook her head, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at the shield array that had suddenly appeared, like a storm wall that covered the entire space and completely enveloped the core area.

"Even the Silver Clan is not capable of such large-scale intervention in this place... This is a barrier set up by the Gold Clan to prevent others from entering, or to protect those inside..."

Sending Uranus in whole seems rather impolite. Please wait here for a moment; I'll be right back.

"Lord Aizen?"

After saying that, Iori glanced back at Alpha and the others, leaving a reassuring smile before disappearing from the ship and appearing in the vast universe the next moment.

The chaotic energy seemed imperceptible to his presence, flowing smoothly past him. Iori calmly gazed at the silvery-white wall, slowly flying to its edge—

wow~

Iori did nothing, yet the Hedron array turned on automatically!

"As expected... Although the Golden Clan has the ability to predict the future, they have left advanced AIs at important planetary nodes for monitoring. The gaze I felt when I entered this world last time was from this!"

Chapter 518 Naming the Planet Gaia.

The Golden Clan, serving as the background of this world, is a race that has theoretically transcended a single universe. Iori doesn't know much about them because they never officially appeared in the original work.

The known intelligence is that they possess the ability to create stars, pave star paths, and foresee the future—that is, to transcend the timeline and observe the universe from a higher dimension.

Even within a world like Stellaris, this kind of setting represents a remarkably advanced civilization, and it's very likely that this isn't their absolute limit.

The work "Heroic Age" features five hero races, each symbolizing a fundamental concept, including individuals who can control the timeline and freely jump between parallel worlds.

In theory, such individuals would greatly disrupt "future development," and general predictions would be easily shattered.

However, judging from the entire storyline, the Golden Clan had designed the final ending from the very beginning, and it did indeed develop according to their plan. This included the hero race that could jump through time; everything was within their calculations.

Thus, they probably also possess the ability to "converge world lines," so no matter how things develop, they won't deviate too far from the "right track" and will eventually return to their original path.

Generally, such overpowered characters are often used as villains in science fiction, such as the Anti-Spiral race in *Gurren Lagann*. However, the Gold Race is more like a pioneer and inspirer; they are keen to bring other races into the universe and guide their growth, with the Silver Race being the biggest beneficiaries.

Surprisingly, they didn't have any ulterior motives in doing these things; they simply wanted to increase their "companions" in the process of exploring the outer universe and investigating the infinite unknown.

This is actually quite reasonable. A civilization that has developed to the level of the "Golden Race" would only seem petty if it talked about dominating the universe or ruling the world.

The reason Iori chose "Heroic Age" instead of "Hakoniwa," which has a similarly grand worldview, is because compared to the Hakoniwa, which is teeming with all sorts of demons, monsters, and entertainers, this universe doesn't have as many rare and exotic things...

Given the Golden Clan's modus operandi, even if they observed Iori, a visitor from "outer universe," they wouldn't immediately show hostility; instead, they would actively try to make contact with her.

The AI ​​they left behind undoubtedly inherited this mindset, so when Iori approached, it did not stop him at all and directly released the shield array to take him in.

These silvery-white polygonal shields formed a very powerful and stable force field, isolating the external energy field that was powerful enough to shatter the planet... This strength even gave Iori a feeling that it was "very sturdy".

Even if he were to attack personally, it would require his full strength to break through!

The technology looks similar to that of the Bronze and Silver races, but it's actually on a completely different level...

"What exactly is being hidden here after all this trouble?"

Iori was surrounded by a faint golden light, as if walking through the void, but each step forward actually covered a thousand miles. Soon she passed through the shield array and the calm eye of the storm and arrived at the true core area.

To be honest, Iori had never imagined that she would discover the "ruins" of the Golden Clan.

The reason he jumped to the home planet of the Hero Race was for future considerations. He wanted to see the battlefield of the Hero Race first and assess the combat strength of this race—after all, the five in the original work were ruthless characters who could destroy stars at will, so it was always better to be cautious.

This chaotic star field did indeed "open his eyes," but the unexpected discovery was quite serendipitous.

"Nothing at all?"

Iori was somewhat bewildered. There were no restless energy tides in the eye of the storm, but there was nothing "special" either, only a series of asteroid belts made up of rubble.

...There was nothing of such high value that it would be specially protected by the [Golden Clan].

But after a moment's hesitation, Iori's gaze swept across the area, triggering the power of the goddess of wisdom. Three-dimensional images flashed through her mind, models of the movement of each asteroid belt.

Taking into account their relative positions, operating cycles, offsets, and the overall rotation cycle of the "eye of the storm," after a series of chaotic simulations, a complete system gradually emerged in my mind.

"Three thousand seven hundred and fifty years... twelve thousand four hundred and eleven years... sixteen thousand three hundred..."

Iori's eyes flashed with a rainbow light, and after a moment, she showed a look of realization: "So that's how it is... As expected of the Golden Clan."

In about 21,000 years, these asteroid belts will eventually reassemble into a single planet!

The Heroes destroyed their homeworld, but its remnants did not disappear. Instead, they were collected and protected by the Golden Race, who allowed them to evolve freely and be reborn after a long period of time!

Perhaps they felt it was a pity, or perhaps this planet had something special about it, but in any case, the Golden Clan left behind this arrangement.

Perhaps it's related to the berserk curse and contract of the [Hero Race]?

But in any case, that's a matter between the two races, and it has nothing to do with Iori.

"Was it a wasted trip? Oh well, I'll just consider it a vacation."

Disheartened, Iori shrugged and prepared to return to the Uranus.

However, in the instant he turned around—

【UjahiusXXXhcoi】

--Um? !

Iori suddenly stopped, a look of surprise and uncertainty flashing in his eyes. He stared straight into the depths of the eye of the storm, at a small asteroid belt on the edge of the planet. Although it was several Earth-moon distances away, he could still feel strange mental fluctuations.

That's right, mental fluctuations... There's something "alive" here!

And just now, that thing tried to talk to him!

From this distance, if the other party hadn't taken the initiative, Iori really wouldn't have noticed...

"This doesn't feel like... hmm?"

Although she received the mental fluctuations, Iori felt something was off, and immediately transformed into a bolt of lightning that flashed through the dark universe.

In a short while, Iori traversed thousands of miles to reach the center of the asteroid belt. Ignoring the boulders wandering around him, he traveled counterclockwise through the asteroid belt, following the increasingly strong sense of perception, and finally stopped in front of an ordinary-looking rock.

This was a cooled star core—although a long time had passed and there were no obvious features, Iori still recognized its nature at a glance.

After all, setting aside his own insight and knowledge, the mere mention of "the wisdom of the sky" allows him to transform his vision into something like an RPG game, where focusing on a particular area automatically displays a line of descriptive text.

"Is it you calling me?"

Iori seemed to be talking to himself in the vacuum, but strangely enough, even though there was no air around, his voice still "transmitted".

【…】

"Are you not very good at expressing yourself?"

Iori paused slightly, thought for a moment, and then simply reached out and placed her hand on the rock.

"Tell me, who are you, and why are you calling me..."

hum!

A surge of spiritual energy welled up from the rocks like a spring. Its quality was pure and powerful, but its quantity was only average. Although it was stronger than most intelligent life forms, it was not as powerful as those transcendent individuals.

In terms of spiritual power, he is not even comparable to Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni!

—This may be offensive, but if I'm not as good as Yamamoto, then I'm no threat to Iori.

Therefore, Iori made contact with it openly, and at that moment, a large amount of information entered his mind. It was a series of images that felt like he had personally experienced them, as well as the "primitive memories" of a planet.

...This is a very powerful planet.

Its mass and strength had reached their limits among planets, and its natural environment was extremely harsh, making it theoretically unlikely that life could arise. But the galaxy is full of miracles; some resilient life forms were born and thrived here, eventually giving rise to a powerful race that exceeded the planet's carrying capacity—the [Hero Race].

Most civilizations in the universe don't care much about their home planet. Even humans only give it symbolic meaning. In their eyes, apart from some commemorative value, their home planet is no different from other planets in the universe.

But that's just a materialist viewpoint!

"Materialism" is constrained by current understanding!

People in the 1K era believed that humans could not fly; people in the 2K era believed that the speed of light was insurmountable—their interpretations of "universal truths" are always superficial.

Scientific research is the process of constantly overturning or modifying existing knowledge and then continuously moving towards the truth.

The Golden Race has grasped the essence of the universe's truth, so their technology appears to humans and other races as nothing more than metaphysics.

Coincidentally, there is a truth about the "mother planet" that seems almost mystical, one that most races have never realized:

Planets possess a kind of "soul," and the mother planet is the literal "mother" of all living things, connected to them by an invisible "umbilical cord"!

That is an existence that cannot be observed in the material universe and can only be perceived in a higher dimension. Every species and even every individual, all beings with a soul, have an invisible connection with their home planet.

Once this connection is severed, that is, if the mother planet is destroyed, the races that leave from it, no matter how far they go or how powerful their civilization becomes, will inevitably suffer some kind of irreversible negative impact!

It could be a genetic disease affecting the entire race, a collective deterioration of mental health, or a permanent loss of some kind of passion...

Therefore, the Golden Race holds all planets in high regard and with great care, especially those capable of supporting life, and strictly forbids wars between stars from endangering the planets themselves. This attitude permeates the entire universe from top to bottom, so from the Silver Race to humanity, everyone subconsciously believes that destroying a planet is a grave crime.

Even after transcending and leaving this universe, the Golden Race still protects their home planet, leaving behind what is arguably the strongest defense mechanism in the universe.

They may not necessarily be affected by their home planet now, but this attitude is ingrained in their souls.

The reason why the Hero Race broke out in civil war was unknown to the outside world, and the planet's remaining memories did not provide a detailed explanation—the planet was incapable of understanding competition within species, let alone knowing anything about "ideas" or "conflicts."

However, based on the clues, Iori was able to barely deduce the cause and effect:

Individuals of the Hero Race possess a strong sense of self. Their reason for acting chivalrously throughout the universe is partly to hone their skills, and partly because they are born with a gene that yearns for battle.

They weren't destroyers, so in order to fully enjoy the battle, they went to find planets that needed help.

However, gradually, the Hero Race in the universe split into two major factions: one adhered to tradition, while the other believed that it was unnecessary to care about the opinions of other races, and that indulging in self-indulgence and pursuing power was the most important thing.