Published at 5th of July 2026 7:25 am

Chapter 4283: The Development of Sol

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The Solar System had changed more than one could have fathomed in just the span of thirteen years, becoming virtually unrecognizable compared to how it had been prior to the Era of Expansion. Just from the windows of the shuttle, one could see the sheer amount of activity that unfolded in the solar system.

The first thing that drew their attention was a mega-structure that was as massive as it was famous. An extraordinarily vast, but thin network of interconnected cities floating in outer space, revolving around the sun at a distance of many light minutes, manufactured from the mass of the asteroid field of the solar system.

It was so vast that despite how thin and scant the lattice of cities was, they were visible from the peripheries of the solar system from the incoming shuttle.

"I’ve seen pictures of it, but this... this is the first time I’m actually seeing it in person." Sternon’s eyes glinted with amazement. "The Constellation of Cities."

It was a breathtaking sight no matter how many times one saw it. The other four also leaned towards the window to catch a better look at the megastructure that revolved around the sun.

It was a whole new layer of human habitation in the solar system that was entirely artificial, constructed from scratch, housing nearly a trillion humans, most of whom were young and of the next generation of humans born in the Era of Expansion. A megastructure commissioned by the Gaian Alliance as well as demand from citizens outside of the solar system who sought a place in the most prosperous and secure part of human civilization.

What was a fleeting group of independent space cities that revolved around the sun eventually became part of a greater network, becoming what came to be known as the Constellation of Cities because they were indistinguishable from twinkling stars from Gaia.

However, this wasn’t the only megastructure that drew their attention, by any means. Closer to the center of the solar system were giant rings that orbited a highly armored and covered sun. The massive rings stretched for many light minutes, connected to a massive and dense translucent Dyson Sphere that consumed much of the light of the star.

There were four distinct layers that surrounded Sol, stretching out a whole light-minute around the star. The first of the four was a full-fledged Dyson Sphere that had complete control over the energy that the star outputted. It was a translucent layer, surrounded by almost thin films that managed to filter out the energy of the light that passed through it.

A thick layer of rings revolving immediately outside that were composed of tertiary energy generation systems that borrowed directly from the Sun to fuel their processes. Here, particle accelerators, fusion reactors, black hole energy generators, and even dark energy reactors generated a greater flush of energy to fuel the heart of human civilization.

A third layer was composed of heavy industrial manufacturing that generated an output of fabricated machinery and vast amounts of space infrastructure.

The fourth layer of rings was dedicated solely to information and computation. The most recent addition of rings to Sol, the Matrioshka Brain, a powerful application of stellar energy to achieve a stellar computation apparatus capable of processing an unfathomable amount of energy.

It was the most extractive stellar apparatus that could be seen from light-hours away. It was so large that one couldn’t even fully comprehend the sheer volume of the entire set-up.

Despite all the busy and voluminous technological apparatuses surrounding Sol, its light was not hampered at all, surprisingly. That was due to gravitational lensing that gently guided the light of the star through the hurdles and into outer space as if nothing had happened, causing there to be a double image between the star and the stellar engine apparatuses.

"You know, now that I think about it, is it not remarkable that this expansive set-up hasn’t completely revealed human presence in this sector of the Orion Star Strand?" Siliscia muttered. "I mean, it’s just so big, is it not?"

"That’s a problem already accounted for," Misha replied. "The edge of the solar system is spread with a special light-obscuring esoteric gas that erodes away all light beyond a certain intensity level, only allowing the light of Sol itself to pass through. This prevents any civilization in the distance and in the future from noticing our Dyson Sphere."

It was a clever setup that prevented any civilization from being able to directly observe the stellar engine apparatuses of human civilization, although it wasn’t an elaborate stealth by any means. The simple reality was that if any alien entity ever decided to look more closely at this particular solar system, they would be astonished to discover an unknown and powerful civilization.

The stellar engines weren’t the only sights to behold. The sheer amount of space traffic was visible, which was certainly a feat given how vast the solar system actually was in volume. An enormous number of space ships zoomed through and about the solar system, while the flux of spaceships entering and leaving the solar system was quite extensive as well.

As they drew deeper and deeper into the solar system, their destination finally came into view.

"Gaia Prime."

Formerly known as just Gaia. It was the birthplace of human civilization. A planet that was as large, if not even larger, than gas giants while being completely solid all the way to the core, where it had a large hollow layer revolving a giant negatron core.

"It’s changed since I last saw it," Sternon couldn’t help but say in a profound tone of voice. "I never thought I would return, since, well..."

The Evolutionary Army did have its secured territory in East Moridia, but it was otherwise not welcome in the solar system, which had forced it to seek territory elsewhere in the stars. It hadn’t been able to secure any of the new real estate developed in the solar system since the Era of Expansion.

But the world had indeed changed a lot in the thirteen years.

Surrounding Gaia Prime was the most powerful planetary fortress system ever to be devised in human history.

It wasn’t a technological marvel.

No, but rather a living being.

One so powerful that conventional force simply couldn’t best it.

"Jormungandr."

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