Jihu sat cross-legged on his bed, staring at the sleek, metallic orb hovering before him. Unlike the other students who had eagerly injected the Gen-1 nanobots into their bodies, he had decided against it. He wasn't about to let some mysterious foreign technology rewrite his biology just because the Academy deemed it "necessary." Instead, he had discreetly linked the nanobots to Leon's system, using them as an external AI assistant rather than an invasive enhancement.
He took a deep breath. "Leon, access all historical records available in the database. Tell me everything about humanity's past, from the moment the last Earth ships left to now."
A brief silence followed before the nanobot AI responded, its voice smooth yet emotionless.
["Accessing historical archives… Compiling data… Processing..."]
Jihu waited, tapping his fingers against his knee. He wasn't sure why, but something deep inside him felt uneasy—like an instinctive fear of the unknown. Then, Leon spoke again.
["Historical records are fragmented. The majority of original Earth archives have been lost due to catastrophic events. Only a fraction of human history remains intact."]
Jihu's eyes narrowed. "Lost? How?"
["Of the initial great exodus fleet that left Earth, nearly half were destroyed due to various circumstances."]
A cold weight settled in his gut. "Elaborate."
["The causes varied. Some ships suffered catastrophic failures—engine malfunctions, artificial gravity collapses, oxygen depletion. Others were intercepted and obliterated by unknown extraterrestrial forces. Pirates, rogue AI systems, even internal civil wars—countless fleets turned against one another, fighting over dwindling resources. Countless lives, knowledge, cultures—erased."]
Jihu sat in stunned silence. He had expected some losses, sure. But this? He gritted his teeth. "You're telling me humanity lost its own history because they couldn't stop killing each other or getting themselves killed?"
["Correct. Without access to the original Earth archives, much of humanity's cultural and scientific knowledge was permanently lost. By the time stable governing bodies emerged, the damage had already been done. Recovery efforts were slow, and progression was hindered by resource shortages and constant conflicts."]
Jihu exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. "That explains a lot… No wonder the Academy is so obsessed with hierarchy and power struggles. They're still stuck in survival mode, pretending they're building a future while fighting over scraps."
["Affirmative. The reliance on newly developed resource-mining technologies only emerged after several centuries of stagnation. Before then, war was the primary means of obtaining wealth and influence. Even now, conflicts against extraterrestrial species persist, further delaying true advancement."]
Jihu leaned back, staring at the ceiling. It made sense now. The Academy wasn't just a school—it was a breeding ground for soldiers, tacticians, leaders who would keep humanity afloat in an endless war-torn universe. It wasn't about progress; it was about survival at any cost.
A bitter chuckle escaped him. "So we made it to the stars… and we're still acting like we're trapped on a sinking ship."
The room fell silent. Jihu closed his eyes for a moment, letting the weight of the revelation sink in. He had always suspected something was off about the way things worked, but this? This was beyond anything he had imagined. The knowledge, the art, the cultures that had once flourished on Earth—gone, like dust scattered in the void.
He clenched his fists. "Leon, is there any record of Earth's final days? Anything that survived?"
["…Negative. No official records remain. Any data related to Earth's last moments has either been erased, classified, or lost to time."]
Jihu's chest tightened. Even the last echoes of home had vanished. A silence stretched between him and the AI, but his mind was already spinning, analyzing, calculating. If humanity had lost its foundation, then who was truly leading them now? Who controlled the flow of knowledge? And most importantly—
"What else are they hiding?"
Jihu didn't have an answer. But he damn well intended to find out.
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