I'm Trapped in the Block

After wiping out the first generation of its descendants with a great earthquake, the Ancient Mine Race began to create the second.

It once again sought guidance from the Purple, gossamer being. But when the Purple, gossamer being learned that it had destroyed the first generation, it was full of regret.

"I actually quite liked them. If they had been allowed to develop, they might have produced a truly brilliant civilization," the Purple, gossamer being said regretfully.

The Ancient Mine Race explained that it didn’t have much time left. After its death, descendants like that would be unable to survive in the Abyss. They would quickly be buried by the Chaotic Sand Dunes.

When that happened, the so-called eternity achieved through the proliferation of its kind would cease to exist.

After hearing the Ancient Mine Race’s story, the Purple, gossamer being told it to minimize its guidance. It should let its descendants face the Abyss on their own and not place such high expectations on them.

Having learned from its first attempt, the Ancient Mine Race strongly agreed. It believed it had helped its descendants too often. As a result, the first generation had turned to it at the first sign of trouble, never getting a chance to grow. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

So, it learned its lesson. It created the second generation, and after instilling them with emotions and knowledge, it hid itself away.

This time, it decided to quietly watch this generation’s development, no longer acting as a "parent" who managed their every move.

It left this group of newly born descendants to sink or swim in the Abyss.

But without its help, this group of the Mineral Race was like a flock of headless chickens. They possessed knowledge but had no practical experience. When they encountered enemies, their only instinct was to flee and hide.

Before long, only a small fraction of the second generation remained.

However, to the Ancient Mine Race’s relief, some of the descendants from the Mineral Race had begun to build their strength and resist the treacherous Abyss.

They started using their collective power to create a settlement within the Chaotic Sand Dunes.

These descendants helped one another, and their civilization grew increasingly prosperous.

As it spoke of this, a look of helplessness once again crossed the Ancient Mine Race’s face.

"But they failed."

This generation was simply too weak to meet the Ancient Mine Race’s standards. In the end, they were annihilated by external threats, completely powerless to resist.

They didn’t even know how to use the abilities the Ancient Mine Race had bestowed upon them.

"They couldn’t control their physical composition or utilize their emotions. They were just a mob of brutes who relied on sheer force, no different from wild beasts."

The Ancient Mine Race never intervened to help them, not even at the very end. It was like a spectator, silently watching them march to their doom.

After this generation was annihilated, the Ancient Mine Race realized that strength was the true foundation of survival. So, it began to create a third generation.

This time, it made them directly master the abilities to alter their physical composition and harness their emotions. This made the third generation exceedingly powerful.

They waged war constantly and stirred up trouble everywhere they went, but the Ancient Mine Race was pleased. To it, this was a sign of strength.

It even secretly helped this generation fend off a few potential threats.

However, this only inflated their arrogance.

They had obtained immense power without ever having to earn it, so they had no idea how to cherish it.

They all felt it was their birthright, something they were naturally entitled to. As a result, they never bothered to unearth their deeper abilities.

They even grew complacent, inventing dogmatic concepts to explain their own power, trapping individual development within a cage of their own making.

At that point, their civilization had become a restriction on personal power.

The result was a steady decline in their power. Their use of their own abilities became bound by rigid, conventional rules.

And so, this generation’s power gradually faded. After a while, they were no longer as strong as they had been at the start.

The other beings they had once conquered began to rebel, and the Mineral Race was beaten back time and time again.

Only then did the Ancient Mine Race realize that power given freely would lead its descendants to squander their potential and march toward their own ruin.

It felt this generation was already a lost cause. A civilization that didn’t know how to evolve was doomed to perish in the Abyss.

And so, it once again used a great earthquake to destroy them.

At this, the Ancient Mine Race fell silent for a moment, its face etched with sorrow.

"You were too hasty. You never gave them time," Mo Ling said after a moment of thought.

The Ancient Mine Race shook its head. "I have to be hasty. I’m dying."

Hearing this, Mo Ling was at a loss for words.

He understood perfectly. The Ancient Mine Race was like a dying billionaire obsessed with how his commercial empire would endure, unwilling to grant his heirs much time or many chances.

"What happened next?" Mo Ling asked, his curiosity piqued.

The Ancient Mine Race continued its tale.

When creating the fourth generation, it once again decided to let its descendants master their power on their own.

By then, however, its mastery over the power of emotions was perfect. On a whim, it decided to alter the emotional ratios the Purple, gossamer being had given it.

’I will create a generation of descendants with perfect personalities!’

It constantly amplified their positive emotions while weakening their negative ones, but only to the extent that it wouldn’t interfere with their daily lives.

And so, a generation with near-perfect personalities was born.

This generation had an explosive thirst for knowledge, constantly learning. They were also self-disciplined, relentlessly developing the power within their bodies.

They faced the dangers of the Abyss with courage, yet they were not reckless, astutely considering every situation.

This generation established a civilization once again, but unlike their predecessors, they did not grow complacent. Instead, they actively developed their individual power.

However, just when the Ancient Mine Race thought these were finally the descendants it had been hoping for, the unexpected happened.

"Do you know the saying about how extremes beget their opposite?" the Ancient Mine Race suddenly asked Mo Ling.

Mo Ling paused for a moment before replying, "Of course. Why do you ask?"

"If you undertake a task with immense optimism, but you fail again and again, countless times... wouldn’t you start to doubt yourself? And when you do, wouldn’t the feeling of loss be all the more overwhelming?" the Ancient Mine Race asked gravely.

Mo Ling considered this for a moment, then nodded.

The Ancient Mine Race nodded in turn and began to describe what had befallen this generation.

In the Abyss, a price is always exacted. To gain anything, one must pay its cost.

But this generation of its descendants always felt they could evade that cost. They were too busy preventing pessimistic emotions from affecting them.

To increase their power, they needed to practice and fight. But fighting meant sacrifice.

Frustrated by this, they chose not to fight. They avoided sacrifice, optimistically believing there had to be another way to increase their power.

To advance their civilization, they needed to seek knowledge, to explore, and to learn the forbidden secrets hidden within the Abyss.

But the forbidden knowledge of the Abyss was filled with all sorts of twisted powers. And so, they stopped exploring.

"Everything is wonderful, so why should we do dangerous things? It’s better to just avoid them."

This generation began to pursue artistic creation, to be "optimistically" "at peace with their circumstances."

They were intelligent enough to know this would lead to stagnation, but they chose to "live in the moment." And since everyone was so positive, no one was willing to be the "troublemaker" who would burst the bubble.

With no crises and sufficient power, they figured they might as well let the music play and the dancing continue.

It was only at that moment that the Ancient Mine Race realized something: by trying to create a generation with purely positive personalities, wasn’t it also just trying to evade the cost?