The Trial of the Divine Tree and the Rise of Gilgamesh

"Run! Run for your lives!"

"We've faced beasts before, but never anything like this!"

"There's no escape—we're not even as big as one strand of his hair!"

Panic swept through the Bugape tribe. Countless figures stumbled and fell as they fled, their voices hoarse with terror. Yet amidst the chaos, a single young Bugape stood his ground. He looked up at the towering colossus that blocked out the sky, eyes burning with defiance.

"Have you come to devour us too, giant beast? Your kind already took my father... my mother... my brother. Why are we so weak?"

Xu Zhi, observing from high above, tilted his head slightly. He hadn't expected one so small to stand firm in the face of fear. A hint of amusement, perhaps curiosity, flashed across his serene face.

Then it's decided. I choose you.

With divine calm, Xu Zhi extended his hand, placing the young Bugape gently upon his palm.

The tiny creature's mind went blank. It was as if he stood atop a continent, the beast's hand stretching endlessly beneath him. When he looked up again, he beheld the god's eyes—two blazing furnaces shining with celestial brilliance. The titan's face, veiled in soft white light by the Mother Hive, appeared sacred and unknowable.

"I name you Gilgamesh," Xu Zhi said, his voice vast and echoing across the realm. "Do you wish to change everything?"

Gilgamesh stared, stunned. "You can speak!? A ten-thousand-foot titan... with intelligence? What are you?"

"And yes... you called me Gilgamesh?"

"Names," Xu Zhi replied, "are also a mark of wisdom."

He raised Gilgamesh before his divine gaze. "You see, we can speak. That makes us kin of thought. But tell me—if we share intelligence, why should I save you? Why not the other creatures? Why not the birds or the beasts?"

Gilgamesh's voice trembled with anger and despair. "Because we suffer! We need saving!"

Xu Zhi's expression did not change. He spoke evenly. "No one will save you. Never presume that salvation comes from another's hand. But I offer you something greater than pity: the means to save yourselves."

He turned, walking over mountains and rivers with Gilgamesh still in hand. The world trembled beneath his feet. The great forests split before his stride.

"Look upon your world, Gilgamesh. Before me, all life is equal. You are no more special than the deer or the bird. What sets you apart is not your suffering... but your potential."

Gilgamesh, still stunned, could only whisper, "What... is civilization?"

For the first time, Xu Zhi truly paused.

"Civilization," he began, "is fire. It is knowledge. It is order. It is the ultimate weapon of the intelligent. Civilization is how you rise above mere survival. It is how ants become kings."

Back at the canyon, Xu Zhi lowered Gilgamesh onto his shoulder. From his pack, he took out a miniature juniper and planted it into the soil.

The tree was ancient and gnarled, only sixty centimeters tall—but in this world of tiny creatures, it rose like a pillar to heaven. Its bark twisted in spirals, its leaves shone with divine luster. To the Bugapes, it was a cosmic ladder.

"If you want the power of civilization," Xu Zhi intoned, "you must climb this Divine Tree. Prove your courage, your wisdom, and your will."

Upon the tree's highest branch, he placed three objects:

A silver greatsword, forged through custom order from Taobao.

A match soaked in kerosene, already lit.

A capsule of termite body fluid—deadly to most, but empowering to the worthy.

"These are the Three Treasures of Civilization," Xu Zhi declared.

"The Sword of Damocles—a weapon to protect your kin. Only intelligent beings can wield tools.

The Torch—fire, the first gift of knowledge. The light that drives back the dark.

The Blood of the Conqueror—a poison to most, but to the strongest... a source of power unmatched."

"If you would change your fate, scale the Divine Tree and seize these treasures—before the flame dies out."

Gently, he placed Gilgamesh on the ground, and without another word, turned and strode away. Each step shook the world, yet behind him, the fire of destiny had been lit.

Outside the sandbox, Xu Zhi gave the command:

"Mother Hive—accelerate cell division by a factor of 100."

The world within the sandbox whirred to life. Plants bloomed and withered in seconds. Creatures aged and died in moments. Time flowed like a river in flood.

The match, which would burn for only thirty seconds in real time, now glowed like a divine flame for several days from the Bugapes' perspective.

Xu Zhi muttered to himself, recalling an old quote:

"When you are courting a beautiful girl, an hour feels like a second. When you sit on a hot stove, a second feels like an hour. That's relativity."

To the Bugapes, those seconds stretched into days of blood, sweat, and desperate struggle.

Through his binoculars, Xu Zhi watched as the young Gilgamesh gathered his kin. Together, they began to climb.

In real time, they appeared as flickering afterimages—darting, falling, rising again. In less than ten seconds, they reached the summit. But Xu Zhi knew: for them, it had been an endless trial of hardship and perseverance.

At the summit, Gilgamesh stood tall. His sword gleamed. His black hair whipped in the wind. Xu Zhi leaned forward, intrigued.

"What did he say?" he asked the Hive.

A playback unfolded:

Gilgamesh, radiant with newfound power, raised the sword high. His voice thundered:

"To think such a being as the Great Beast of Wisdom exists! A titan ten-thousand feet tall! But we, too, possess wisdom! One day, we shall stand as equals. I will lead my people to the summit! The fire of civilization will burn across the earth!"

Thus began the myth.

Thousands of years later, among the ruins of an ancient empire, archaeologists would unearth the Epic of Genesis, a sacred text from the long-lost Sumerian dynasty.

Its first verse read:

"The Great Beast of Wisdom stood ten-thousand feet tall, radiant with divine light. It trampled mountains and split the earth. And in its mercy, it planted the Divine Tree, offering the Trial of Civilization to the hero Gilgamesh—granting unto him the Sword, the Torch, and the Blood of the Conqueror."