Soul of Searing Steel

The Day of Preaching which left the champions of the cosmos in shock and awe had certainly been like an asteroid that fell into seas, unraveling the diverse civilizations by layers. However, for many individuals who had yet to reach Legend, Legendary advanced or even Legendary ultimate, the change that the event had brought about did not really turn their lives so abruptly and rapidly.

Still, it was not to say that all of them were unaffected by it all. It was just that the change had always been lateral all along, reaching them in a way that was at once gentle and not to be refused, gradually becoming common sense.

***

At half past two in the morning on the 27th of August, Starfall year 848, in the Void Tower of Babel, the Void warship production installation of the Northern Empire, the Mycroft Continent.

Arlwa Diamond was not asleep.

The former Seventh Prince and the present Third Prince of the Empire was in charge of all matters regarding the Void warship production installation in the West Barnett Highlands. He was also a Supreme champion with a high position in the Mycroft combined government, and was currently training in his own office while logging on to the forum in the Spirit Terminal.

It actually made sense—being one of Joshua’s apprentices, Arlwa had certainly watched the live broadcast of the preaching. Even if his abilities meant he was not able to absorb any usable information at the moment, other Legendary champions would! The home pages were laden with labeled data as well as detailed explanations by the Seven Gods, the Pope, and other Legendary champions. With the Spirit Terminal, any forum or private network would be linked directly to that page.

There were now no grounds for secrets—that was the propaganda the Mycroftian authorities had kept spreading over the last few years, patiently and tirelessly advising all, encouraging them to cultivate their spirit. Having connected each individual through every personal Spirit Terminal to the Unified Archives, the united governments would also reward them accordingly, ensuring that every uploader would receive a proportional value in rewards and redemption points with which they could exchange for resources in the Redemption System.

At first, most people had been naturally suspicious and distrustful of the act which was exceedingly generous and disregarded the basic genome of selfishness. They had the nagging feeling that it was a trick that the authorities were using to lure them away or that the authorities simply wanted to take advantage of them—luckily, however, the number of idiots had decreased after most Legends and Supreme champions stepped forward and uploaded their experiences and understandings in cultivation on to the Nets. It was because they realized that the later someone uploaded their unique data, the less their reward would have been should someone have already delivered similar information beforehand, and moreover, the experiences and understandings of the Legendary champions were far more comprehensive than any understanding they would conceal, and at most had some differences in more intricate aspects.

For his own part, Third Prince Arlwa, who often used the forums, therefore maintained a lead ahead of his second brother the Emperor, his fourth (First Prince) and sixth brothers (Second Prince), and even his father, one of the Seven Gods, beating them to uploading the secret manuals of the Diamond Royal Family and in turn earning oceans worth of cumulative points and obtaining the permanent Mana Net title of ‘Preacher’ for sharing. In return, he had been punished with divine retribution, a scolding from the Emperor and disproval from the rest of the princes and princesses as his fathers and brothers reprimanded him for not ‘sparing some for us’, and now considered him an indifferent person with no respect for elders.

“Well, it is all your own fault for being slow.”

Indeed indifferent—not only did Arlwa feel no shame, but he had actually found it funny. “Moreover, what use is there for a god and an emperor collecting redemption points? It’s better to just give them to me.”

***

As a former member of the First Party, Arlwa ultimately never did assimilate perfectly with the team’s spirit because of his status of a royal family member. Even so, that did not mean that they were no longer in touch—at the moment, members of the entire party had all been transferred from the Expeditionary to under his wing. Furthermore, the Makarov siblings, Karin and Nick the Dwarf, had basically made a name for themselves with different specialties and skills even as the First Party reassembled itself as the New Elite Labs, conducting diverse research about new Void warship models and special Extraordinary abilities.

Being a laboratory doing pioneering research, the costs were certainly astronomical, and securing the funding to start the lab itself would have been a major issue if not for Arlwa coming first in uploading the Royal Family’s secret manuals and earning the oceans of points…there were naturally no problems now that the General Use Element Decimator Drive and the New Extraordinary Diet Recipes had been successfully developed. Not only did the New Elite Labs make a sum that reclaimed starting fund, the profit from their patents alone could allow them to create developments over several different fronts.

On that note, the projects that Nick the Dwarf—who was now billed as a Master Chef of Extraordinary Delicacies—had overseen was now a defined by the Mycroft government as a priority civilization-level project. The project itself had majorly elevated the general essence of several races, allowing room of improvement for the Food Sciences of the next generation while slowly combining various disciplines such as potion making and alchemy, developing it into a new academic in itself.

Meanwhile, former party leader Ivan Makarov, who specialized in puppet engineering, had been recruited by Zero Three recently to conduct a secret mission in a mysterious world, a quest which was alleged to have something to do with the construction of an Extraordinary item known as the ‘divine armament’. As for his sister, Amelia Makarov, and her frightening depth, she was now a Supreme champion with clear hopes of ascending as a Legend. After she had partnered with Karin to invent the Element Decimator Drive, she had furthered her studies under the tutelage of Vahina, Sage of the Oceans, and was perhaps undergoing a special training regime in the cosmos.

In other words, everyone’s future was bright, leaving Arlwa, prince and main funder, with nothing to do except for training and receiving his profits while idling, the only pastimes open to him being logging in to forums to check for new training material or news.

Naturally, logging in to the Mana Net was not just a way of passing time, but a way to train as well.

Others aside, the Continental War game that Commander Radcliffe himself had developed was still spreading plenty of useful knowledge and experiences even now. In fact, there were now professional players who had actually stopped making it their goal to clear levels, but instead to set a particular race, before using the remarkably perfect simulation functions of the game itself to duplicate a brand new Extraordinary race and system, performing a check-and-balance observation to verify the practicality of an individual’s path forward.

There was certainly even less need to mention to the Grand Colosseum application that the combined governments had launched just a while ago. It allowed Extraordinary individuals from the Lost Galaxy to the faraway cosmoses to scan and upload their abilities by using the Spirit Terminal (hiding or removing certain stats is allowed), before using the simulation to engage in virtual battles on the Mana Net.

Thanks to the Great Mana Tide, publicized legacies of cultivation had been coupled with resources to train, giving rise to a new generation of Gold or even Supreme champions, their numbers gushing forth as if requiring no costs at all—however, all of those champions basically had no experience in combat at all. After all, with the Dark Forest having essentially been wiped off the soil of Mycroft, there was now longer any zones allowing training. Therefore, the application that was the Grand Colosseum thus established itself.

Although it was still lacking in comparison to real battles…but how should one put this? In real life, the fights between champions would dictate that each fight meant grievous injuries to both combatants and a recuperation period of ten days to up to half a month. On the other hand, virtual battles could go on for an entire battle without a problem, just as one could go on with another round after they lost their previous one, even with the added simulated sensation of being near death. With the near faultless perceptions, it would significantly increase the spiritual endurance of combatants under extreme circumstances.

More than that, the mode of virtual battles was not merely limited to single duels. Players could engage in battle royales or team deathmatch, which would greatly refine strategic thinking in combat, along with a player’s ability to coordinate with an unacquainted ally.

Though it remained a game, it was actually a serious business—even if the virtual battles would certainly give rise to all manners of players such as stat paddlers, virtual champions, or even forum warlords, there was no question that individuals with the depth to really develop as champions would be able to draw enough resources and nurture far more Extraordinary individuals specializing in real conflicts.

Arlwa especially enjoyed that function, and would duel with players of the same level at least ten times…in the end, being a prince of the empire as well as a ranked official of the combined governments meant it was very difficult for him to find a suitable opponent. Unless he challenged the current Emperor day after day while attempting a virtual coup d’état, there was no other outlet available for him.

[Free discussion]: Aren’t the servers really lagging recently? The connection has cut off halfway through a game several times for me already.

Arlwa had just been saving the replay of a duel against a single player virtual match for revision a little later. It was a begrudging defeat against a person whose hologram resembled a Drakonid, but whose actual fighting style was as violent as a demon, coupled with thunder and fire attacks along with a profound set of combat aura skills—that was a feature of virtual battles as well, since the replay feature was a fine measure in self-improvement.

Still, after having lost for six consecutive rounds, Arlwa stopped to rest his mind, checking out the forums instead of stubbornly engaging in another battle and losing more ranking points.

And once he entered the forums, the prince quickly noticed the ‘Trending’ post that was labeled in red. Upon a closer look, Arlwa realized that the replies to the post had reached more than two hundred pages, and was still rapidly increasing.

“Come to think of it, it does feel laggy lately.”

Nodding in agreement, Arlwa could not help but murmur, “My connection equipment that are on par with a Void installation’s and my Imperial Family Spirit Terminal which is the highest grade there is are actually suffering from the lag…if that is the case, how much lag it would be for standard terminals?”

He hence clicked the post and browsed through the replies—as he had imagined, many of the users were complaining about the issue of recently unstable servers, and his gaze was soon caught by some User IDs amongst them that were quite familiar, along with more useful posts that were naturally given most likes.

Pilipala: I have heard that many foreign civilizations are logging onto the Mana Net as it is being established over at the cosmos on the other side, which is why it is a little unstable. New insider information has revealed that the Mana Net and the Redemption Beam systems are being distributed simultaneously, but I did not think that it would lack so much.

Little sisters and ghosts are what I desire: Really, hadn’t all of you noticed? There has been a great increase of nonhuman accounts in the Colosseum, although the players would only be encountered over here at the cosmos, and rarer back home. I have also been thinking if it could be the Commander’s biological modification group showing results, since there is one specimen right beside me, but now it appears to be players from other civilizations joining the Grand Colosseum.

I love tentacles (Replying to Little sisters and ghosts are what I desire): What are you hinting at, boss?

Little sisters and ghosts are what I desire (Replying to I love tentacles): A friendly, intelligent magical creature. Lol. 

Ser Crow Mouth Slayer (Replying to I love tentacles): A friendly, intelligent magical creature. Lol. 

Die Crow Mouth Die (Replying to I love tentacles): A friendly, intelligent magical creature. Lol. 

I am Crow Mouth (Replying to I love tentacles): A friendly, intelligent magical creature. Lol.

House-sitting Demon: I think that it’s quite normal, actually. There is every sort of being in the Grand Colosseum—there was this one player whom I met who started off with Drakonid form, and then turned into a dragon, before turning again into a horse. I couldn’t tell at all if she was actually a dragon or a human or a horse, but she was adept at fighting in water and could dash as rapidly as a horse on land. She would take to the skies to unleash Starfire, her ultimate skill…I lost so ridiculously. 

He keeps a dragon that he never rides (Replying to House-sitting Demon): Isn’t that so? There was this one player I met last time who started with Drakonid form, and then turn into a Slime out of nowhere, before turning again into a Balrog and dished out sacred fireballs—tried to use water against him, but the fellow casted lightning and even combat aura. If I hadn’t met him in the Grand Colosseum, I wouldn’t have believed that such a person existed! 

Most of the replies were simply spam or complaints, sharing their victories or defeat when their connection was cut off during battle. One included a rare comment from a vampire (presently renamed as the Shades) player who was grumbling about having already held the advantage in a battle where he suppressed his opponent with a field item, only for the high server lag to cause serious delays—the other player essentially teleported behind him and punched his leg off.

“And why wouldn’t it have lagged when he was beating me up?” he complained.

Nonetheless, Arlwa was more curious about several unusual IDs and replies that were so stiff that they appeared to be machine translations.

Grimshaw: Sorry, server overload, but very fun, is a very excellent concept, thanks God of Steel gratitude.

Rosta Rognola de la Macelle: [Mojibake] thanks God of Steel gratitude. (A reply clearly imitating the grammatically incorrect comment before it.)

Triple Curtain Terminal stationed in Mycroft Mana Net System: The Mana Net server construct is out of tune and makes no sense. We will forward the matter to Radcliffe and request for improvements. Serious declaration: the Psyweb is the best. 

“Hmmm… it seems that those otherworld civilizations have really joined Mana Net? They even received Spirit Terminals…”

Would that not be placing their own subjects beneath the control of the Mycroft civilization?

Arlwa could guess that the unusual replies had been posted by otherworld beings who were unfamiliar with the basics of Mycroft and could not actually handle the automated translator. He instinctively found it all unusual, believing that other civilizations should not be so freely allowing their own citizens wearing a signature item from another civilization…although the prince found it reasonable once he considered it more carefully.

“After all, who knows how many people there are who want to join the Mycroft Assembly after the sermon…ah. The power of my mentor had truly invoked worlds, spreading the Mana Net and Redemption System so firmly.”

And soon, the eventuality of the Mana Net of Mycroftians becoming a Mana Net for all intelligent life across the cosmos was now cast and unchangeable.

Aside from having received Imperial Family education since he was young, Arlwa was also one of the apprentices of the most powerful Legendary champions in the known cosmos. His vision was hence broad enough to know that the more civilizations there were who joined the Mana Net system, the greater the benefits that both Mycroft and the other civilizations would enjoy.

Meanwhile, his mentor had not really been making appearances since returning from Stellaris. It was said that he had returned to his Residence back in Moldavia once to speak with Miss Ying, Mister Ling, and Lady Zero Three, after of which the pair of divine armament siblings disappeared, seemingly to carry out some secret mission. As for Lady Zero Three, she had also left for an undisclosed world with Ivan and many other scholars to research divine armaments…and later came the sermon.

In truth, every person in Mycroft was feeling trepid since the entire population of the world had been ordered to move to a shelter world away from their home…some of the citizens who had gone through the drastic measures understood it, but there were also some who had their houses destroyed, and complained about having to live in refuge shelters.

Be that as it may, Commander Radcliffe had publicized data regarding the Ultimate Crisis along with the carnage of civilizations infected by it on his return—through the Spirit Terminals and the Mana Net system, everyone hence understood that the fact they were still alive was already a profound miracle in itself. If it was not for the protection of many champions, correlated intelligence, the reply from researchers, and the development of an enchanted antidote, it would have taken just a split second for the Mycroft civilization to fall.

Therefore, the purpose of the Day of Preaching, apart from having all civilizations in the cosmos be enlightened about the mighty name of Joshua van Radcliffe as well as the Mycroft civilization, was to promote a sense of great comfort and pride within Mycroft itself.

“The Mana Net is really important. It is truly the core of cores, whether it is used to communicate information, or to promote or maintain stability, not to mention that the so-called game is actually vital for an entire civilization. It may be called that, but it reduces a sense of alienation for the people as a necessary tool to cut off necessary work, dull projections, boring training, or dangerous battles.”

Because of a ripple from the server, Arlwa was disconnected from the Grand Colosseum forums—he imagined that it would be worse for the others with his advance tools, and was well aware that the leaders of Mycroft valued it so much that they would not have allowed for errors to develop time after time. It was clear that the Mana Net was now definitely under some generational renewal and refurbishment, so that it could be refined as a supermassive platform for communication across the cosmos.

Or indeed, the very foundation of the Mana Net itself was being changed drastically.

“Is the mentor doing something now?”

Moving to a window of the Babel Void Tower, Arlwa looked up quietly and stared at Mycroft’s binary moons, as well as the skies and Void above, where a radiant silver star shone in its highest point. Between breaths, it crossed the entire sky and left a distinct shining trail before vanishing from the other side of the stars.

He then shifted his gaze from the tower to the West Barnett Highlands, the entire Empire itself and the Mycroft continent itself.

A Legendary champion would have been able to see a formless network of magical energy enfolding every corner of the world, spanning its skies, land, oceans, and subterranean reaches. It was everywhere, covering everything—a surging tide of information, connecting every Mycroftian and individual holding a Spirit Terminal as if it were chains.

Every detail of being in a world was now data, cascading beyond the world and extending to the Void.

As perspective broadened from the world of Mycroft to its quadrant, the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds, to the edge of the Lost Galaxy and its Abyss, even off to the cosmos, one could see veins after veins of information chains gushing in units of worlds, tangling and spreading out in the direction of a single sector in the cosmos. It enfolded even the faraway world of Stellaris in the path of the Great Mana Tide, a corresponding chain of information linked to its profound Psyweb covering its own boundless stars. They were assimilating and interacting like two great universes trying to combine, commencing the final preparations before fusing.

Could that be the reason that the servers were unstable?

It actually was not.

Because the points that maintained the endless information were actually clusters of silver radiance spread throughout the stars, he had long since linked up and fused with the galaxy of Psi. With Emotion power being a medium, their combination would not lead to any stirring.

But now, the cluster of silver which was not a core but most certainly held a major portion of the light was heading to the depths of the Abyss—to the Vortex of Creation.

***

Great information was overflowing.

It was the information of countless worlds, newly born or even dead, noted in mind as the silver radiance streaked passed them, storing them. That was something only the silver radiance and a few beings could do, and amongst them, the silver radiance was the one who could do it best.

He was listening to the voices of infinite worlds and the calls of infinite life. He listened to the shouts of ordinary galaxies, the laments of perished Abyss…like waves, inexhaustive information was held within him.

The closer one was to the Vortex of Creation, the greater the information surge would be…until eventually even the entire Mana Net was shaken.

That was the true reason.

It was not only the world of Mycroft which witnessed the phenomenon—the Sartreans, the Starherders, the Soul Puppets, the Ultrahumans of Simboa, along with all civilizations in the Lost Galaxy saw that genuine radiance.

***

In the Abyss, a world was floating upwards and returning to normal.

Within Kronos, homeworld of the Drakonids, the Ancient Dragon of Thunder, looked up to see the same light as well.

“What are you doing, God of Steel?”

Unable to stop itself from linking up to the shooting star, the usually quiet Ancient Dragon made its first actual inquiry over a thousand years. “The Vortex of Creation—the circulation of a galaxy’s Steel Strength circulation was barely restored…could you be intending to recreate a Supermassive Singular World?”

The Ancient Dragon had its own Spirit Terminal as well. Being close to Mycroft and residing in the Abyss, it was privy to the secrets regarding the Evil God of Death and could guess the path of ascension which the Demi Saint who stood at the limits of Legend had in mind, and another user in Steel Strength.

“You are both right and wrong. I certainly want to conceptualize and build a Supermassive Singular World, but I would not really bring it to life…or at least not now.”

The shooting star left his own message, hastily saying, “The Vortex of Creation is the Birthing Tides and Withering Night given form, the manifestation of world circulations, the eternal place where civilizations, worlds, and even life would die and be reborn.”

“I would be dissecting an Evil God, and the essence of their Perished Eternity.”