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Chapter: 13
The Legent of the Galaxy God of War – Reincarnation (4)
An old-fashioned logo appeared on the display.
[Special Documentary Commemorating the 2500th Anniversary of Humanity’s Expansion Beyond the Sun, History of the Galactic Martial World Part 3.]
[Produced by: GBS Comprehensive Broadcasting, Open Main Star System.]
[Provided by: GBS Martial God Third Star System.]
[Production Support: Galactic Martial Arts Alliance – Martial History Research Institute, Galactic International Federation – Galactic Historical Archives, Earth Historical Compilation Committee.]
Since I had watched parts 1 and 2 of the documentary yesterday, I played part 3.
I liked science and tinkering with machines, so I became a science-track student, but if I hadn’t been interested in machines, I had liked history enough that I would have considered majoring in it.
The history of another world? How could that not be interesting?
Part 1 of the documentary covered the history of ancient martial arts that began in ancient Egypt, the martial techniques that were passed down to India and re-established there, and how martial arts eventually flowed into East Asia.
Part 2 analyzed the development of martial arts centered around ancient China, from the late Zhou Dynasty period onward, and compared it with the ancient martial arts that spread directly from Egypt to Europe without passing through India, explaining how Rome and the Germanic peoples developed their own independent systems.
Part 3 would cover the history of the martial world from the late ancient era by this world’s standards—the mid-Qing Dynasty period by my standards, equivalent to the early modern era—up until the early stages of space exploration in the 21st century.
A professor with a dignified appearance walked onto the documentary set.
Most of the documentary consisted of footage and narration, but the professor’s role was to provide explanations whenever necessary.
“It is nice to see you again. Now, as promised, today we will be discussing the period from the late ancient era in the latter half of the 16th century to the early medieval era, which corresponds to the 21st century.”
The screen briefly showed cultural artifacts from ancient China before changing to a historical drama filming location.
“Let us briefly review the previous era. Martial arts have always developed rapidly through periods of war. In the past, ancient China, where martial arts had just spread, went through the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, creating a unique East Asian style different from Egypt and India. That style became the foundation of modern martial arts.”
The screen changed, showing reenactments of wars from before the era of gunpowder weapons.
In the footage, stunt actors who had learned martial arts demonstrated spectacular battle scenes.
Then the screen changed again, displaying a timeline and marking the late Ming Dynasty and the transition period between the Ming and Qing dynasties.
“Through the wars of the Ming-Qing transition period, martial arts developed once again. However, after the war, the Jurchen ruling class of the Qing Dynasty implemented policies to suppress martial artists who practiced martial arts.”
The screen changed, showing emperors and generals dressed in Qing clothing suppressing martial artists.
“In the history of the martial world, an even darker age than the Mongol Yuan Dynasty period arrived. However, compared to the darkness in the West, the darkness in the East could almost be called bright.”
The screen changed, showing a map of Europe.
At the time, Europe’s martial arts, which had developed through Rome and the Germanic peoples, began naturally declining alongside the advancement of gunpowder weapons.
While the East suppressed martial arts through the state, in the West, martial artists themselves began abandoning martial arts.
This trend spread rapidly, especially after the invention of cartridges and the appearance of breech-loading rifles.
An incident where two riflemen completely annihilated fifty cavalrymen armed with sabers had a devastating impact.
Skepticism toward martial arts spread throughout Europe, and as modern weapons became widespread, Western martial arts nearly disappeared completely.
Instead, unique martial arts such as gun-kata, designed for handling firearms effectively, emerged in the West, and as the Industrial Revolution began, the age of imperialist colonialism opened.
While Western nations began their global invasions, the East—especially the Qing Dynasty—became increasingly isolated and suffered from severe corruption among officials.
As a result, the Qing imperial family and government were crippled by Western powers, and many nations suffered countless forms of exploitation.
However, ironically, the decline and fall of the Qing Dynasty in martial history marked the end of the dark age.
As the Qing government that had suppressed martial artists lost its ability to function, the suppression of martial arts disappeared. Amid Western invasions and the chaos of nations failing to operate properly, ordinary people began learning martial arts to protect themselves.
Guns were easier to learn than martial arts, but in the West, colonial powers feared arming their colonies and prohibited personal firearms from being distributed there.
Even if someone managed to obtain a gun with great difficulty, acquiring gunpowder was even harder than obtaining the weapon itself.
Therefore, martial arts, which did not require consideration for ammunition consumption, became the only available means of self-defense for colonial peoples.
Western nations mocked the outdated martial artists of the East, and history continued to move forward.
After the brutal dark age of the martial world in the 19th century ended, and after passing through the early and mid-20th century—the era of world wars that dragged the entire world into conflict—the late 20th century finally brought an era of peace.
Late 20th century.
Although the international atmosphere remained tense due to the Cold War between superpowers, and sporadic wars still occurred throughout the world, it was undeniable that compared to the entirety of Earth’s history, it was an unusually peaceful period.
Martial arts develop rapidly through war.
This was also true during the world wars of the 20th century, when various gunpowder weapons and aerial warfare became increasingly important.
Before the Industrial Revolution, martial arts developed around how effectively one could kill enemies and how easily one could block enemy attacks.
However, during the world war era, martial arts developed around how well one could dodge bullets and how well one could survive poison gas and bombardments.
It was truly a cruel era where survival itself meant victory.
The world wars were horrific, but they allowed martial artists to develop overwhelming survival abilities.
These survival abilities later became the fundamental foundation that allowed martial artists to advance into space.
After the wars ended, the martial world of the 21st century once again entered a period of stagnation.
A peaceful world was wary of individuals possessing force.
Martial arts could be defined as methods of combat, and it was only natural that societies and nations seeking peace would be concerned about martial artists.
However, just as regulating guns in America was impossible, suppressing martial arts that had already spread widely through the war era was almost impossible.
During this period, martial arts developed into a more secretive form, where people hid their abilities and concealed their true strength.
The professor from the documentary set slowly walked toward the camera and spoke.
“This development of secrecy in martial arts would later play a major role during the era of the great intelligence war that surpassed the old Cold War, which took place from the mid-to-late 21st century through the early-to-mid 22nd century.”
The professor looked at the camera and delivered the closing remarks.
“Alright, we will end here for today. Next time, we will explore how martial arts were used in the intelligence wars of the 22nd century, and then examine the history of the martial world up until the 24th century, the true beginning of humanity’s expansion into space. I will see you next time.”
The screen darkened, and the production staff credits rolled along with grand music.
The third part of the documentary, covering the era I was most interested in, had ended.
This world was a distant future where thousands of years had passed since the martial world entered space. It was currently the 50th century, and the 21st century where I had lived was considered the medieval era—a ridiculously distant past.
I found it amusing that even after three thousand years, most cars still ran on tires.
But umbrellas had also kept almost the same shape for thousands of years, so perhaps practical efficiency prevented their forms from changing.
There were rare anti-gravity cars, and even the tire-based cars might have had internal structures completely different from what I knew.
Actually, just looking at Siwoo, I could estimate the technological level of this world.
The existence of androids that could not be distinguished from humans alone was already incredible.
“Are you finished watching? Would you like a snack?”
“Yeah!”
I chewed on the baby snack, a rice cracker that Siwoo placed in my hand, while starting the next episode.
After finishing the documentary on the history of the Galactic Martial World, I planned to watch documentaries about scientific development and space exploration, and then the history of the great sects.
“Documentaries are educational and good, but if you just sit still, your body will become stiff. Let’s take some time to stretch.”
I stood up with Siwoo’s help.
Siwoo laid down a mat with footprints drawn on it.
“Now, follow these footprints while walking and move like this.”
It was annoying, but I stepped exactly on the footprints and followed Siwoo’s movements while stretching.
Uh… wait a second. Was this the foot placement for the Clear Wood Step?
“You are doing very well.”
I had only just started walking, and they were already teaching me martial movement techniques?
Well, I suppose it was good for me to learn.
My life was simple.
Well, that was obvious.
How colorful could a baby’s life really be?
Eating, sleeping, and growing—that was the duty of a baby.
However, it was so monotonous that aside from practicing cultivation methods, footwork techniques, and watching documentaries, I spent most of my time accelerating time with my three-dimensional avatar.
Personally, I found the documentaries extremely interesting.
Unlike the world I had lived in, this was a world where martial arts were widespread, so while the broad flow of history was similar, many details were completely different.
The content of Galactic Martial History Part 4 mainly dealt with the growth and rivalry between Beggars’ Sect and Hao Sect.
The Beggars’ Sect, an information-focused sect made up of beggars and people at the bottom of society, and the Hao Sect, which consisted of people from the same social sphere, had similar areas of activity but completely opposite philosophies.
The Beggars’ Sect was a righteous sect that considered justice its purpose, while the Hao Sect’s purpose was protecting the socially weak without caring about laws or morality.
As explained in part 3, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the dark age of martial history ended, and after the world war era, the martial world revived despite a brief period of stagnation.
However, the Beggars’ Sect entered a dark age.
Before the Industrial Revolution, people naturally accepted beggars wherever they were and did not pay attention to them. But as cities developed, governments and society pushed beggars to the outskirts of cities under the excuse of improving urban environments.
Especially during important events such as international gatherings, beggars were expelled even more aggressively.
They needed to collect information from nearby, but they were constantly driven away, causing the Beggars’ Sect’s intelligence network to become terrible.
On the other hand, the Hao Sect entered its golden age.
The Hao Sect’s main members were restaurant workers, courtesans from entertainment districts, traveling merchants, and other socially disadvantaged people.
After the Industrial Revolution, restaurants became hotels, entertainment houses became salons for the upper class, and merchants became global trading companies traveling around the world, making information gathering much easier.
Especially since cleaning workers from vulnerable social groups existed everywhere, they were perfect for collecting rumors and information regardless of politics or business.
Therefore, the 20th century could be called the greatest golden age in the history of the Hao Sect.
The Beggars’ Sect, which had become overwhelmingly weaker, decided to abandon its fundamental identity as beggars in order to solve its core problems.
In the 20th century, during its worst period of decline, the leader of the Beggars’ Sect became convinced of the value of the newly emerging internet communication system and placed the entire fate of the sect on the internet.
The Beggars’ Sect’s prediction was completely correct.
All kinds of information began pouring onto the internet, and when the 21st century arrived, the Beggars’ Sect’s information network, which had secured the internet first, surpassed the Hao Sect.
Using that information power, the Beggars’ Sect began taking over the Hao Sect’s offline territory.
Having abandoned its original identity as beggars, the Beggars’ Sect had no reason to avoid areas that belonged to the Hao Sect.
After losing control of the internet and facing the Beggars’ Sect’s attacks in the physical world as well, the Hao Sect fell into a desperate situation.
(To be continued in the next chapter)
