Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Afterward, the traveler left and edited the journey into a video, publishing it on the StarNet. Only then did people start to notice the girl and that old recorder by her side.

As modern residents, recorders are not even introduced in textbooks; many were curious and slowly came to understand this ancient audio player, thanks to explanations from some netizens.

Thus, May's image left a small trace on the web.

Then, the next year, when another traveler visited the place, he specifically sought out May to see the recorder and listen to the songs it played.

Once more, May stood in front of the camera; she switched on the old recorder, and the mixed and unclear music, accompanied by the noisy background of people talking, glasses clinking, steam engines roaring, and the clashing of steel machinery, together created an extraordinarily memorable scene.

And the song that May hummed along with the music was also recorded by the camera and appeared in front of the public eye.

Three months later, the envoy sent by the Federal Central Council took May to the Central Star Domain for testing, confirming her awakening of the Songstress Talent, and based on her childhood favorite, she nicknamed herself 'Polka Dot Recorder.'

The confirmation of May's Songstress Talent sparked a massive discussion online, with many becoming infatuated with her novel yet retro musical style, which led even more people to imitate it, until historians investigated ancient history and officially named this genre.

'Steampop' means retro and dynamic, soothing and smooth, with a sensation of mist and steam.

This music sounds incredibly romantic; even just through your ears, you can feel the sensation of mist and steam, just as its names imply, vaporwave/steampop. Some say, "It's like being immersed in a pink bathhouse, feeling the moment of hearing vibrant retro music coming from the neighboring radio."

The old cathode-ray tube television, the deep pink and blue fuzzy dots of light, the slightly hoarse and fuzzy music, the raindrops and windows full of the marks of time, telling of an era's curtain fall, and the lost and sorrowful feelings amidst the clinking of glasses, like intoxicating poison, addicting one's mind.

The antique player emits May's songs, slightly misty with her voice, the blurry dots of light dance, and the music, sounding almost like white noise, tells of old scenes from memory, as if an old newspaper used to prop up something at the bottom of a cupboard has been unearthed again, with headline news and events that were once popular and important to people, long forgotten in the depths of memory.

Raindrops hit the glass windows outside the aircraft, blurring the scenery outside.

Leaning on the seat, the young girl listened to the player's rotating music, and time quietly flowed by.

In this way, until the aircraft slowly descended in the night of South First District, where rain poured down, behind the black curtain of rain were flashing screens and floating, colorful dots of light.

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"Hexia, do you know what chalk is?"

Years ago in the classroom, the teacher asked her, a student with good grades, to answer because most of the other students were either sleeping or playing secretly, paying no attention to what the teacher was saying. After calling them out a few times to no avail, the teacher simply gave up on some of the students.

"Chalk is a form of calcite, primarily composed of calcium carbonate, but unlike calcite, it is primarily formed from the remnants of ancient microorganisms. Hence, it has a softer texture, like condensed powder. In the distant past, it could be used as a natural chalk for writing."

"That's right." The teacher was quite pleased and let Hexia sit down, then continued to talk about geological transformations and the impact ancient life activities had on the geological environment.

Everyone knows that life activities leave traces, but the profound impact of such traces is perhaps not realized by the public.

The activities of ancient life deeply changed the geological conditions of the planet. Who would have initially thought that the white-gray rocks pressed beneath layers of earth were the remains of life from the distant past?

After all, such gray-white rocks were too numerous, so much so that they were overlooked as not merely products of natural geological changes but traces left by life.

Maybe in this universe, there are many galaxies, countless planets, but only a handful might contain chalk calcite and oil.

Matter is common, but life is rare, even miraculous. Although those distant lives are long dead, the traces of their activities and their remains are still in this world, even changing the trajectory of today's civilization.

The discovery of oil brought a giant leap in energy and power technology for civilization, catalyzing social change, altering human lifestyles, and even creating distinct cultures and characters.

The oxygen produced by the photosynthesis of ancient organisms led to the extinction of many lives but also laid the foundation for the birth of larger life forms later on.
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Even if some groups of organisms have long disappeared, the traces of their existence have profoundly influenced subsequent species.

Time has not vanished but has settled down in another form.

It might be a stone or perhaps a sound.

The individual is insignificant and helpless, even if one spends an entire lifetime, it might just be a tiny droplet in the waves of an era, able to see only that, experiencing just that.

Perhaps some droplets are lucky, born at the peak of a cresting wave, allowing them to see the most vast and beautiful landscapes, but most droplets are simply ordinary, swept along with the waves, rising with the times, falling, shattering, quietly forgotten.