Chapter 97: Chapter 97: The Halo of Centaurus

“This is The Halo of Centaurus of The Centaurian Dynasty.” Julian Sterling’s voice resonated gently in the silent space. He raised his hand slightly, seeming as if he wanted to touch the ring appearing before him, but then his hand passed right through the holographic image. “It was destroyed five thousand light-years ago, burying a vast expanse of history and culture, a magnificent golden age of humanity during the era of cosmic exploration.”

The image shifted with a fluid grace, slowly transforming into a field of debris where floating fragments of colossal skyscrapers, now shattered and broken, drifted aimlessly in the void. In that pitch-black expanse of the galaxy, a canvas of absolute darkness, the only illumination piercing through was a faint, ghostly glimmer originating from a solitary white dwarf star fading in the distance. Its pale rays cast a haunting glow upon the cold, jagged metal surfaces, blending perfectly with the somber, muted tones of the graphical perspective to craft a scene that was heavy with tragic majesty and an overwhelming sense of sorrowful desolation.

Then the entire galaxy seemed to darken in a split second, so fast that Ethan Caldwell thought it was merely a blink of his own eyes. That somber hue was suddenly replaced by a tone leaning towards a cold, pale bluish-black.

Two colossal, concentric rings, spinning in a slow, hypnotic counter-rotation, encircled the vast curvature of the planet below. They glowed with a blinding, ethereal brilliance, radiant and holy, resembling the wedding rings of ancient deities binding themselves to the cosmos – a celestial sanctuary for a civilization of beings who had never felt the heavy shackles of gravity. Meanwhile, far below on the surface of that majestic world, the trails of innumerable space shuttles blurred into continuous lines, effectively transforming into colossal space elevators. These tethers stretched infinitely upward, appearing as delicate as shimmering silk threads swaying in the wind, yet they stood firm, acting as lifelines that anchored the magnificent floating cities drifting serenely within the planet’s orbit.

The sequence of images began to glide with increasing velocity, sweeping the perspective away from the colossal rings to focus intently on the architectural marvels hovering miraculously in mid-air. These floating sanctuaries constituted an entirely new stratum of living space, an ingenious design comprising fragmented continental plates that were severed from the terrestrial surface by the silent power of advanced anti-gravity technology. There they drifted, suspended like islands amidst the endless azure expanse of the sky, with crystalline waterfalls pouring over their jagged edges into the gaping void below, cascading down until they dissolved into a fine, ethereal mist long before they could ever hope to touch the distant ground.

Houses featuring crystalline bio-architecture combined with metal rose up from the surface, resembling magnificent structures of humanity that people could not explain.

“Their beauty lies not only in the overwhelming grandeur, but also in the convergence of ancient civilizations, of aesthetic features that have never been known before. This is a brilliant cultural era with no equal anywhere else.” Julian’s voice remained steady. These architectural designs were temporarily borrowed by him from his original world, from the primitive Earth.

This was what Julian had investigated. The aesthetic system and architectural thinking of this novel, while possessing a certain consistency with his original world, were still defective regarding many quintessential ancient cultural beauties, lacking the polish as well as the stratification of cultural periods developing from ancient times to the present.

Julian guessed that perhaps the author, when constructing the setting of this novel, had omitted that part, or more simply… The author did not know the specifics either.

Come to think of it, what could Julian expect from a feel-good novel that focused solely on the protagonist, taking him as the center of the universe? It was possible that if the protagonist declared that the art world was perfect as is, then this world would also have to acknowledge it.

But also thanks to that deficiency, Julian thought he could bring those ancient beauties into the graphical perspective, combining them with the interstellar sci-fi genre, creating a unique feature for the game about to be released.

It seemed that Ethan wanted to say something, but in the end, he did not speak up but signaled for Julian to continue. It could be seen that the holographic presentation today was indeed a part of the plan that would appear when they negotiated with Iris Visuals, and even serve as a technological stepping stone to negotiate with The Olympus Group.

Julian allowed everything to continue running according to the programming from before.

A majestic era appeared in just a fleeting moment, then darkened a bit more in a split second. The planet bearing a heroic beauty suddenly seemed to become a crystal ball smashed by someone. Everything cracked apart into billions of tiny shards, only able to flash brightly for an instant and then extinguish.

The galaxy went out, returning the universe to a silent blackness. The knowledge that people thought could last forever with the era, immutable before nature, was now buried in the sandstorms of the cosmos, covered in a layer of temporal dust.

They were like sacrifices of time, a fleeting glory no one knew, and when extinguished, no one remembered. The space storm swept through, the wind drafting through the remaining metal crevices, the screeching sound like a mournful song covering the graveyard of a great civilization.

“That is all for now.” Julian clicked his tongue once, and the holographic image turned off, leaving only the quiet night in the room. “The time was too urgent so I could not process more images. I intend to edit this part a little to turn it into the initial trailer. However, I think this amount is enough to persuade the side of Iris Visuals.”

“The main plan still lies there. This hologram is to show them the connection of development regarding our graphical aspect. There is a combination between the future interstellar civilization and ancient cultural history; it will surely arouse the interest of that crowd.”

“But is it too ambitious?” Ethan suddenly asked a question. “I do not deny that these graphics, if combined with full-dive virtual reality, would create an overwhelming effect that moves people’s hearts. However, it is a double-edged sword. The act of trying to cram two completely contrasting cultures together like that will cause even the smallest error points to become more exaggerated.”

“If it is not handled throughout the design process, just a few illogical details will completely backfire, creating a suffocating feeling for the players.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep