There is little known about the time before the first emperor. People at that time were forming packs, similar to wolves, and they had conflicts with other. Farming was practically non-existent, and people were eating what they hunted down.

The first emperor – Sebastian of Zamora clan, a tier 8th individual, managed to unite humanity. This event marked the first year of the Sebastian calendar. Emperor Sebastian was 180 years old when he reached the 8th tier. In the first years, he consolidated human’s clans and created a government, very crude at that time. He and a dozen of clan leaders started rapidly expanding human’s territory, incorporating dispersed human tribes. Due to extensive hunting and population boom, soon, there was a need for farming.

In the 27 year of emperor Sebastian of Zamora dynasty reign, the imperial court had been founded. There was a need to regulate farming and defenses of settled human population. Assimilation of different clans into a one block made clan governments obsolete.

In the 42 year of the first emperor’s reign, the first mint had been created. Money was made from stones. A mint engraved a hardening spell on the stone fragments. The whole process was automatized after some time. Mints were working (and still are) fairly on their own. There were spells for cutting stones to right size and a spell automatically engraving the hardening spell.

People were concentrating and creating first cities. Money was needed to facilitate trade between cities, farms and frontier areas.

Humanity was rapidly expanding and increasing its population. Many packs of monsters were inside human borders. Humans treated them as a wild livestock, always hunting down anything dangerous, but otherwise letting packs prosper.

Culture and magical knowledge were booming. Many scholars conducted research, and more importantly, shared their knowledge.

The emperor and 7th tier humans were strong enough together to wrestle some territory from other 8th tiers. 8th tier monsters nearly never cooperate normally, unless they are of the same, social species.

The first major problem appeared in the year 126. Humanity encountered another civilization.

They were called goblins. They had higher strength and lower intelligence than humans. Humanity wanted to trade knowledge, but the initial negotiations failed, goblins, weren’t interested with trading knowledge. Emperor therefor treated them the same as other species. The border conflict ended in a war.

Humanity was winning the war decisively. Goblins didn’t have an 8th tier individual. Unfortunately, they were worshiping an 8th tier monster as their god. That monster treated them like a livestock, but preserved their continued existence.

Goblins not only managed to get help from that monster, but also asked for help from others 8th tier monsters neighboring humans, which lost some land because of human expansion. In the year 135, the war of the first coalition started.

Five 8th tier monster allied against humans, along with many groups led by 7th tier monsters. Humanity were not able to effectively defend their huge territories. Many low tier humans died.

Fights against 8th tiers went surprisingly well. One of them even died. After that, the remaining four paired up. Even so, an ambush saw the death of another one. After that, the remaining three were afraid of teaming up, as two of them could backstab the last one. The war was theoretically won, but a large amount of territory was lost. Also, many 7th tier humans died during the fight with two 8th tiers.

Humanity entered a century of peace, after the war. We have lost vast territory in the war, but human population was too sparse to use those lands effectively. In this relative peace period, human population boomed. Some previously lost lands were also reclaimed, as 8th tier monster were no longer there.

In the year 257 of the first era, emperor Sebastian abdicated to his grandchild, the second emperor Mel of Zamora dynasty. With two 8th tiers, humanity was the strongest in the history.

Emperor Sebastian had decided to eradicate goblin tribes before he died, to help the humanity in the long term. Goblins called for help, and the war of the second coalition started.

Goblin’s god, an 8th tier in a form of a bear, used goblins not only as a food, but also as a source of magical knowledge. The bear was able to cast spells standard way, and was a formidable opponent. Other 8th tiers fought an asymmetric war, as the Emperor Mel was defending humanity for the most of the time. Humanity was too strong.

In the year 278 of the first era, emperor Sebastian fought the decisive battle against the goblin’s god and managed to slay it with excessive use of the sacrifice spell, dying in the process. The war was won, and the goblin tribes were ruthlessly exterminated.

In the year 289, emperor Mel started his own plan, which could be summarized, “let’s kill them one by one.” He led an expedition against an 8th tier, slaying it and expanding human territories.

In the year 298, he led the second expedition. It ended in a disaster, however. The emperor made a wrong judgment, that without goblin’s meddling, 8th tiers wouldn’t be able to unite against a common threat. There was an ambush waiting for emperor Mel in a form of seven 8th tiers. The growing power of humanity scared many 8th tiers, and even 8th tier monsters witch didn’t border humans joined.

Emperor Mel barely managed to escape with the sacrifice of 7th tiers from the expedition. Monsters pursued him, attacking the core of the human empire, starting the war of the third coalition. Humanity fought, but was losing. Human 7th tiers were decimated.

After some time, the emperor brought a theory, that monsters were able to unite thanks to the previous two coalitions in which there was no betrayal.

In the year 327 of the first era emperor Mel send a proposition to one of the seven 8th tiers. Humanity offered a good portion of their lands and help in killing the rest of 8th tiers. The proposition was accepted.

In the following twenty years, three of the six remaining monsters were killed thanks to the collaboration. The remaining three gave up, ending the war. Humanity still needed to fight off the collaborating monster, which turned against us, but it was not a major problem.

After the war, the emperor’s Mel body was badly injured. Healers were incapable of helping him out. His fighting abilities dropped nearly to the 7th tier. The only think that could help him was the evolution, but that was impossible for him.

The rest of his reign was spent on rebuilding. He tried to power level one of his own descendants, but he underestimated the damage to his body, and died in the 467 year of the first era.

His heir, empress Raquel, became empress as 157 years old, with the young empress class. This class in only accessible to the children of someone with the emperor class or the young emperor class. The class is stronger than the normal 7th tier king class.

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A few 8th tiers attacked humanity, but without coordination between them, they were repelled. In the year 484, empress Raquel managed to advance to the 8th tier. Her reign was extremely calm in regard to fights with 8th tiers. Her politic was to slowly expand, increase population and research new magic spells and technology.

Potions were an invention of goblin tribes. After the victory of the emperor Sebastian, many goblin books were looted, however, research in that direction only began in the reign of empress Raquel. During her reign, guns were invented. There were mostly large and crude cannons, which were breaking down after two or three shots, but they were improved over the years. Smaller calibers were ineffective against anything stronger than 3rd tier, but still used commonly, especially after the year 1000.

A frontier was created. Fortifications, magical barriers and team tactics were invented to deal with 8th tiers, without a direct involvement of the empress.

Empress Raquel died in the year 788. She had not helped anyone to reach 8th tier. She thought, that without 8th tier within humanity, monsters would not band together against humanity. After her death, there were a few attacks of 8th tier monsters, but they were repelled.

Empress Raquel politic was successful. Humanity was slowly expanding in the next centuries, and due to the team effort of 7th tiers, 8th tier monsters were kept at bay. Normally, to overcome one tier difference, ten times numerical advantage is required, and some deaths are expected. This is only valid for a whole tier difference in levels, though. Usage of magic formations and superior spell craft allowed 10 7th tier humans to safely repel, or even kill an 8th tier.

The lack of an 8th tier emperor led to a change in government. The position of an emperor weakened, leading the government to the form of a republic, in which the 7th tiers ruled, with the former emperors descendants as the first among equals.

In the year 1341 of the first era, Edward Brewer managed to reach 8th tier. Many were afraid, that he would start a civil war over the imperial throne. He, however, chose a pure combat class. In the year 1389, he left human territory with a group of 7th tiers, with a goal of reaching 9th tier. He had never returned.

In the year 1673, a moment before the great calamity, humanity had the greatest population in the history. An official census counted 1873 million of people. Centuries of careful expansion and management made humanity a great power. Unfortunately, all that were proved not enough.

In the year 1674 of the first era, thousands of monster packs and over ten 8th tiers stormed humanity’s borders. Records of that time are sparse, much was destroyed. Apparently, a 9th tier monster had appeared, forcing many others to migrate and escape.

It is unknown whatever the 9th tier crossed human territories, or not, but the imperial court was destroyed, as most forms of government. Humanity was broken.

Most of the survivors reverted back to the lives of humans before the first emperor. Some walled and heavy defended cities survived, but without effective farming, their population was limited by food supply.

This period is called a dark era. It is unknown how long it lasted, estimations are between 600 years to 1500 years.

The dark era ended with the appearance of Jasmine Ward, the greatest heroine of humanity. She managed to evolve into a unique class – The Sword class. Classes with the in name are unique, and only one such class can exist at one time. One of requirement for that class, was that nobody else had it.

Such classes have a terrifying essence boost, many think that the boost is on the level of the last tier. It helped the heroine to fight and slay monsters with higher tier than her in one on one fights. She reached the 7th tier when she was 47 years old.

In the dark age, humans in the 7th tier were food and nourishment for 8th tier monsters. Before the dark age, there were dozens of 7th tier humans, while close after, only about a dozen.

To gain foothold against 8th tier monsters, heroine Jasmine Ward fought against 8th tier great eagle, who controlled lands where humans lived. The eagle learned human magic from ruins and its subordinates, who surrendered to it for safety. During the fight, 7th tier Jasmine managed to slay the beast, but she died as well. The most popular theory suggests, that the monster managed to deal some serious damage to her, and tried to escape, hoping to reengage as soon as its own wounds get better. She did not let him.

Without the 8th tier eagle, humans quickly used the power vacuum to establish the empire. One of descendants of the old emperors with the young emperor class assumed the leading position in the unification of humanity. Rather than monarchy, the nation was created as a republic. This marks the start of the second era.

The newly created state expanded rapidly, reclaiming many of old territories. The government tried to replicate the success of empress Raquel, especially since they did not have someone with 8th tier strength.

A law was passed, that any knowledge gained through research, must be contributed to the imperial court. Compensations were given. This was to prevent loss of knowledge similar to what happened when the dark age came.

Offenders and criminals were forced to contribute at the front lines, and executions were rarely held. The republic was fairly successful, unlit the year 136 of the second era.

In the year 136, the climate got colder. That stopped the expansion of humanity, as the essence concentration in the air dropped as well.

Very cold and wet summers destroyed crops and caused a famine. Gunpowder often got wet, and was unusable. Humanity was forced to passively defend its borders.

The following period was named a cold time. It lasted until around the year 350, but the ending date was not sharp. Humanity lost both territories and population over that time. The most severe was the loss of 7th tiers. Due to lowered concentration of essence in the air it was harder to gain levels. Old warriors died of old age, while the new ones were not able level up enough.

While the strength of humanity dropped by much during the cold time, there were also some positive developments. In the year 178 of the second era, life magic based bone shaping spell had been developed. It was possible from now on, to replace most of the metal equipment with bone weapons.

Hand guns were replaced in cold time, as they were suffering from the wet climate. Conservatives and fans of guns managed to invent a cartridge, but that was too costly, as humanity lost many metal and sulfur sources. At that time humanity already used most metal ores from their territories, iron became expensive. Nowadays, metal is only produced by transmuting soil with earth spells. Such a spell uses a high amount of essence, and can’t be placed in populated areas, as it would speed down leveling and weaken other spells. As the result, quantity of iron humans can get their hands on is very limited.

However, cannons were improved greatly over that time, as a rate of fire and power increased. The imperial court invested in cannons, even when small arms were pushed out by cheap bone weapons.

Guns are still being researched today. The main problem currently is the lack of metal. Experiments with bone cannons were somehow unsuccessful. Low tier bones are too weak, while high tier bones could withstand for some time, but small crack often led to a disaster, as it was impossible to repair small cracks with low tier spells. A damaged cannon had to be brought back to a bone-smithy. Metal cannons could be repaired easily, though.

The greatest progress was with gunpowder, as a new recipe was created in the 400 year, which didn’t require sulfur. Many new recipes were created after that, and gunpowder became less expensive, but it is still too expensive for mass equipment.

Currently, magical artillery is more popular, but it uses the earth kinetic spell. Those cannons have low fire rate, as there is a need to wait for more essence. Most canons are currently mixed.

At the end of the cold time humanity had only two 7th tiers. Fortunately, thanks to accumulated research and experiences, humanity was able to preserve in the face of 8th tier monsters, and it was to be expected, that there would be a comeback.

Most historians agree, that the imperial court made a grave mistake when they didn’t push, but remaining a defensive stance. Humanity continued to loss lands.

In the year 683 of the second era, Zamora dynasty ended, since no child of the ruler reached 7th tier. As an aura of the ruling class was a major advantage in a group fight, there was a need for the new ruler. In the end, dukes helped to level up a 6th tier to the next one, and gain the king class. The class was weaker than the young emperor class, but it was better than nothing.

From this point onwards, nearly all kings were power leveled to 7th tier, rather than reaching it by themselves.

This book had been written in the year 1035 of the second era. Humanity now controls territory of 400 hundred kilometers in diameter, and have a population of 11 million. Today, humanity is at the weakest in the history.

I, the author of this book, will say even more – we are at the brink of the extinction. Rather than defend, we should do what our predecessors were doing, we need to attack. There will be losses, and many will die. That is a price we must pay.