Soul of Searing Steel

 “Black, light it up.”

The half-dragon which awakened its bloodline had improved wisdom as simple instructions from Joshua could easily be understood by it. Under Joshua’s command, the core on its chest started to fill with magic energy and radiate. The fire energy within itself circulated and released a bright golden red radiance.

The depths of the lake was illuminated by the light with a certain area showing crystals with reflection. Joshua noticed that other than the huge red rock in front of him, there were other dark red rocks. Only the largest red rock had the strongest magic reactions.

“Let’s open it up and see.”

After thinking for a moment there, the warrior raised his right first and knocked onto the coagulated blood. This thing here was as large as half a fortress. A gentle yet firm vibration traveled through the internal structure of the rock, shattering the multiple layers of rocks on top of it into powder.

The huge rock was continuously shattered by Joshua. Each and every hit was clearly observed by Joshua to see whether was there any important elements within the crumbled rocks.

After shattering half of its structure, Joshua finally saw something interesting.

“This is so strange.”

The shattered rocks caused a quake from six hundred meters under the lake. There were magic crystal shards shining from the shattered red rocks.

Under the golden red illumination from Black’s core, there were different strange items could be seen contained within the dark red rocks. All the things here were assimilated with the magic crystal, turning into something crystal-like. They were randomly stuck on the blood rock, displaying a magnificent magical view.

Based on Joshua’s rich experience, all of these were corpses.

Numerous crystallized skeletons were found being submerged in the dark red blood. Although their forms were no longer same as their form during the time they lived, it was still an easy task for Joshua to differentiate the races of these corpses.

The dead bodies were very well-maintained. Other than the lack of flesh, other details were very apparent. There were horses, men and even skeletons from the dragon race. As Joshua observed all these corpses in front of him, he found something new.

There were weapons and armor which were kept in good shape.

Being sealed under the rock and continuously bathed by the magic energy from the crystal, the weapon and armor from the previous era had completely crystallized. They retained the same form on top of the crystalized skeleton during the time it was sealed. The view here could be explained in a way where a grand battle was stopped by time.

“Magic crystal kept all these things in shape…”

Joshua seemed to have thought of something and looked towards other direction. There were dirt, rocks, and crystal everywhere. Joshua muttered, “Is this the ancient battlefield?”

Could it be that the crystal he saw with Moreila back then was not a from a crystal vein but were crystallized ancient skeletons?

There was a high possibility for this. This could also explain why the energy beneath the lake was so gloomy, without a single life form able to live within. It was an aura from the ancient battlefield that rejects all living beings from approaching this area. Subsequently, it had also changed the nature and properties of the crystal veins.

Joshua felt that this Nissia Snowy Mountain had a big secret far beyond his imagination.

“Picking a random location to establish the academy could have granted me the chance to encounter such a thing. I think we had really good foresight to know that this place is a good place.”

As Joshua approached the skeleton and weapon, he touched these crystal ancient existences and examined the traces on the surfaces.

Human skeleton, the frames of a horse, the bones of a dragon together with the unknowns. On top of that, armor, blade, shields. None of the items here were forsaken by Joshua’s curiosity. Each and every one of it thoroughly examined and memorized by Joshua.

“This design, where have I seen it before?”

As he examined the patterns on top of the shield, a sense of familiarity kicks. Joshua finally remembered. “This resembles a snake…”

“Infernal Twin Serpents Ring!”

Joshua remembered the extraordinary magic item.

But how? An item made during the Starfall Era. No matter how strong it is, it shouldn’t be something similar from the previous age. Why are the patterns on top of the equipment the same as the patterns of the top of the twin serpent ring?

“Wait, I think I remember…” Joshua was able to recall that the system had once appraised the ring.

[—For the Fire Serpents, there’s nothing else worth worshipping and following than the flames. This is a replica of an Ancient Holy Artifact. The artifact came from the sand dunes located in the Gleaming Desert that is always flurrying with insanely powerful winds.]

Gleaming Desert was the desert located on the west side of the Mycroft Continent. According to the legends, the gods cursed the place, turning it into an eternal land void of life. It was a place filled with ancient artifacts. There was a scholar’s city and relic research group called the [Ancient Light] situated right beside the desert.

The noteworthy part about the Gleaming Desert was the initial relic found which was called the [Eye of Profundity]. It was a huge sinkhole. The gravel in that area was melted at an extreme heat, turning into green-colored crystals. A bizarre magic energy halts the movement of the wind. It was a place where the travelers could enjoy their rest for their journey.

The canyon seen right above from the sky would look like a city-sized green pupil.

Eye of Profundity Canyon… Handprint under the snowy mountain lake.

One was filled with melted ice, the other filled with gravel. From the nature of both places, it did not differ too much. Both of them had the same depth and hidden secrets. Eye of Profundity was the ancient battlefield on land while Nissia Snow Lake was the ancient battleground under the lake. They seemed to be the same type of existence.

“I guess the whole world has similar ancient sites. To be fair, these sort of sinkholes are quite rare within the Mycroft Continent.”

While having these thoughts in mind, he did not stop swimming deeper into the lake. He searched for the small blood shards scattered around and crushed them to examine the content hidden inside.

Some of it does not have anything within. However, among the majority of the shards, even under the huge blood rock, countless of skeletons and crystallized equipment could be found.

Joshua was certain that the area before his eyes that was an ancient battlefield. Thanks to the help of the magic crystal vein, it had successfully sustained the form of the battlefield which had been lost for about 300 years. The blood of a huge living being had coagulated into a large blood rock, retaining the forms of the skeleton and equipment. It was as if the blood had stopped the time of the final battle itself.

Although the items had been crystallized, their form did not change.

After destroying another shard, Joshua thought it was empty at first, yet an item had caught his attention.

“Spiral Crystal?”

Joshua extended his hand and took a piece of pure white crystal from the blood rock. Joshua felt a strong yet familiar energy from that crystal. He recalled during the time when Artanis healed his arm, there was a crystal disc that was used to convert its energy into holy light. The current crystal in hand had the similar feeling as compared to what he felt last time.

It was not something to be extremely surprised about because Joshua and Moreila had found a similar spiral crystal without any carvings on top during their last infiltration. However, Joshua was shocked after a few seconds because the crystal on his hand was significantly different in terms of nature compared to the other spiral crystal.

“This is not the power of the holy light, it is the power of Order!”

Joshua was surprised. He opened his scarlet eyes wide to examine the white crystal under the water. He held onto it firmly, without any means to let it go. Before Joshua could felt the amazement for the second time, the Azurite on his chest reacted to the crystal.

“Order Crystal? Something like this still exists in this world!?”

Joshua could not express how amazed and shocked he was. He had seen valuable natural gemstone such as the Sun Crystal, Frost Gem, Emerald Heart, Glorious Crystal, etc. This was the first time he encountered such a special crystal which he had never heard of.

Black swam towards Joshua. The fire energy was swirling around it, turning the freezing lake water into a warm stream. Joshua held the crystal on one hand and patted Black’s head with the other one. Black replied with a comfortable neigh. Joshua frowned and focused on the crystal on hand. “Order Crystal… this could only be explained that the world had once existed with high order density.”

“It was obvious that this place was an ancient battleground. The skeletons and warhorse was the perfect answer for that. In addition to that, the blood of the huge monster could coagulate into rock.”

Joshua started to mumble himself and deduced the possible happenings within the lake. “Nostradamus and I had the same feeling. The special barrier in the northern land was extremely weak. Before the Dark Tide, the magic energy would thicken earlier as compared to the other area. It is very obvious that the Aragami had left a dimensional rift here.”

“Near the Lost Sea, there was a fortress built… no… a fortress found by the Empire and was later on furnished by them.”

As all the clues started to gather, Joshua looked that the crystal in hand and muttered, “My family had the divine artifact Azurite to go against the Aragami in the northern land for thousands of years. With the span of 300 years where history was unknown, there was Order, and battlefields of an unknown enemy.”

All the leads had led towards a shocking yet sensible conclusion.

“The lost 300 years was probably where the human of the Glorious Era fought against the Aragami. The northern lands, Gleaming Desert, and other ancient site was probably their battlefield?”