Professor Burbank changed the image to an elderly male orc dressed in a white robe made from an unknown animal pelt. He stood at 6ft 2, which was relatively short for an orc, and carried a two-meter-long staff with an unknown animal cranium as its head. The elderly orc radiated a white light that may not have been as intense as the god on the throne, yet everybody felt he was just as noble.
"The final nail in the coffin for shamanism was the birth of a 7th-tier Divine Shaman," Professor Burbank continued. "What is a Divine Shaman? It is the messenger chosen by a Plane's Will as its emissary; it's a being as noble and powerful as a True God, yet without as many limitations."
The professor paused to give the students time to process his words, "Before the birth of the Divine Path, only titans and dragons could reach the 7th tier. But now, someone else has done it. You could imagine how these gods responded."
"Kill the Divine Shaman?" someone asked.
"Not just him. They wanted the entire extraordinary path wiped out from the face of the Astral Cosmos."
"Why am I not surprised these gods wanted to commit genocide?"
"Their actions seemed devoid of any morality."
"Not just them: most civilizations seemed to act in their best interest, willing to do whatever it takes for power — including the humans in other dimensions."
"It's the Law of the Jungle — I don't see what's wrong with that."
"Is that so? Well, thanks for reminding me that I should stay away from you."
"Let's focus," Professor Burbank stated with a stern voice. "The gods' attempt to destroy shamanism was both a success and a failure. Success since they eradicated most shamans that lived in the 5th Epoch. The failure was because of Divine Shaman Guuznad. After founding a new dimension to house a few survivors, he sacrificed his life to create a barrier around it, blocking all divination and preventing the gods from discovering it. With Guuznad's sanctuary, shamanism survived and recovered."
"Finally, there is an honorable person I can root for."
"Is he, though? How much blood is in Guuznad's hand? I'm willing to bet it's not small."
"Why do you need to root for or villainize him? He's a complex individual, and we can look at his actions from an objective point of view, accepting both the good and bad."
"But, that's easier said than done."
"Guys, this is not an ethics class, so focus, "Professor Burbank reminded.
"That reminded me," a student suddenly raised their hands. "Sir, what happened to the dragons? Did they ever return to dominate the world as they proclaimed?"
"They did return, but by then, most races were too powerful to rule over. Not to mention, these people remembered how they were treated and began hunting dragons all over the Astral Cosmos."
"So, the dragon race once again faced annihilation?"
"Believe it or not, they resisted pretty well even against so many allied races," Professor Burbank remarked.
"How come?"
"They adapted by using the Divine Path," he explained. "The fear and worship of dragons was ingrained deep in the souls of countless races during their reign, which made it easy for them to gather [Faith]."
"If the dragon race was so powerful, why didn't they reclaim their rule?"
"Simple: the same thing that granted them their strength was the cause of their downfall," Professor Burbank explained. "Internal division appeared among the dragon race between those who relied on their bloodline and those who walked the Divine Path. Eventually, a Dragon Goddess called Tiamat led a rebellion, and to this day, the dragon race is divided between the [Dragon Nest] and the [Dragon God Temple]."
"Fascinating. It seems large-scale war and internal fighting are usually the major causes for the destruction of these powerful civilizations."
"Isn't it the same on Earth? Some truths are universal, no matter the dimension."
"It's sad that you're right."
"Sir, what role did humans play in the 5th Epoch? We were no longer food, but it also doesn't appear that we did much."
"That's a good question," Professor Burbank smiled. "In terms of development, the situation of humans can be described as neutral, neither good nor bad. We were no longer food or even slaves, but we were not the most powerful race either — far from it."
"Why not? Didn't we also have our own Gods?"
"We did, and many of them. The issue is that our progress was a step too late. After the disappearance of the dragons and titans, many races began developing their own extraordinary paths and civilizations. As former members of the food class, humans had no foundation to stand on. The other races — while they were slaves — still had a foundation. For example, the elves were needed to grow plants and other magical herbs; the orcs were strong, which made them natural soldiers to do the dragons' and titans' bidding; the dwarves were good at digging and finding ores; trolls had a terrifying regeneration, which made them suitable to venture in dangerous and harsh environments.
"To maximize these racial talents or advantages, the dragons and titans allowed these races to practice an extraordinary path, which they later used as their foundation during the beginning of the next epoch."
Professor Burbank paused briefly, "However, this wasn't the key factor that truly delayed the human race: the rise of magic, the division and destruction of shamanism had an immense effect on us. But all those issues were secondary: the real issue that delayed humans was the birth of the First God."
The hologram changed to display a couple of races, but all in their Godly form, clad in white, gold, or a combination of those, radiating a noble aura.
"Do you know what the [authority] of the first gods was? They were racial authorities; in other words, the God of Elves, the God of Dwarves, the God of Orcs, etc. Racial authority was the easiest to condense for many reasons: most races understood the pain of lacking strong leaders and were willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure their race had a powerful guardian to protect them."
"Then, the human race?" a student asked.
"Humans couldn't condense a [God of Humanity]," Professor Burbank explained. "No matter how many people worshiped an individual, no matter how gifted said individual was, no matter what they've done for the race, no one could condense a Godhead with a [Human Authority]."
"But why is that?"
"It's a racial trait — one we share with a few races, including demons," Professor Burbank explained. "The human soul cannot condense a racial authority, and by the time our ancestors realized this, they were already behind. And unfortunately, with the other issues coming into the mix, they failed to catch up."
A collective sigh echoed in the room. Sometimes, one wrong move means losing the entire race. And in this case, the human ancestor didn't make any mistakes; their identity and ignorance just limited them.
"No need to be sad; the human race had its time as the ruler of the Astral Cosmos," Professor Burbank smiled. "Now, let's talk about the other defining race of that epoch: the demon race." He changed the holograms to show two pictures of the same demon: one in its humanoid form and the other in its demonic shape. The humanoid form looked identical to a human, except it had a white crystal in its forehead and a red pupil. Dressed like a medieval royalty, the demon had a strange, devilish charm.
Unfortunately, its demonic form — 5 meters tall, with red skin, six red eyes, a bone horn forming a crown on its head, claws, and dark-gold battle armor — ruined any beauty of its humanoid form; well, for most, it was ruined.
"The demon race's appearance was sudden, and to this day, few people know of their origin. However, when they first appeared, the gods were simply intrigued. The demon race's ability to absorb souls and process emotional energy — including the desires in faith — to use for their own benefit kindled the gods' curiosity.
"For many years, there had been a three-way battle among the gods as they divided themselves. Good Gods hated Evil Gods; Evil Gods despised God Gods; and everybody hated Chaos Gods who had been corrupted by faith."
"Evil God?"
"Gods with authorities such as Fear, Blood, Slaughter, Killing, and even Death. Gods with these godheads found it easier to improve through sacrifices, inducing wars, and killing countless mortals."
"Ah, I see."
"The gods thought the demon race was the answer to completely solving the issue of faith, and treated them the same way they did the Innate Gods. Unfortunately, that backfired swiftly. The constant fighting and chaos of the Gods generated so much negative emotion and killed so many people that it wouldn't be wrong to call most worlds a Demon's Heaven.
"On top of that, the demon race had a hidden ability called [Demonized], which allows them to corrupt an individual's soul, turning them into one of their servants. With all these advantages, what happened is obvious: they turned against their masters — maybe oppressors is a better word? Well, it doesn't matter.
"What matters is that the gods' hubris created a powerful enemy for themselves. A massive war between the two civilizations broke out, devastating the Astral Cosmos. The Demon Race's Servant Legions grew exponentially as they corrupted more and more people — including even some Gods. It also didn't help that the Chaos Gods joined their sides, forcing the Good and Evil Gods to ally with one another.
"The war was massive, but it built the foundation of the Demon Race — a foundation that has lasted until this age. "
Professor Burbank paused, "Now, can anyone guess who was the final winner?"