Soul of Searing Steel

[… Item identification in progress… The Origin Knowledge has been successfully determined. Knowledge of Wondrous Items has failed to be determined. The World Knowledge has failed to be determined.]

[Identification Report: Searing Steel Fragments, Wondrous Item of the World]

[Origin: The war between Order and Chaos has been waging on for hundreds of millions of years. The cycle of victory and defeat, life and death have been changing by turn ever since. In the world in the frontline of war, the repetition of corruption and salvation are common occurrences. Meanwhile, the Searing Steel that represents the salvation of the world has once again run its course. The Searing Steel Fragments the salvation for this time around has not been fully performed. Wielder of the power of Order needs to bear in mind: Temporary success or failure is irrelevant. As long as your heart bears the conviction, you shall lead yourself to victory.]

[Wondrous Item: Fragment that is blazing with the Flame of Order. Perhaps it has is some unexpected effect?]

[World: The power of Karlis' Order is with you.]

[Summary: The crystal fragment containing powerful Order energy. Although it appears to be a tangible entity, truthfully, it is actually some sort of imaginary existence in this world. Other than the wielder of the power of Order, it is not visible to the others.]

Others can't see it?

Holding on to this fragment of blazing steel, Joshua did not sense any heat at all in his palm. The only thing he could sense was waves of Order energy rippling out from the crystal fragment. Regardless of whether it were the knight beside him or the white-haired wizards that were standing not far from him, none of them had noticed its presence. They were behaving normally. They were walking down the dwarf's tunnel as if the warrior was holding nothing in his hand.

"Looks like it is true then."

After keeping the item, Joshua decided only to spend time on studying the item in the days to come. For now, he just wanted to take a good rest.

A brief moment later, the large party that was being led by Moreila had returned to the underground settlement.

Without any unnecessary formalities and etiquette, the dwarves who had been well prepared had arranged rooms and food for everyone. Joshua and the others were already overly exhausted. They did not even have the energy to dine for the day. Meanwhile, Nostradamus and the others still remained in a state of shock after witnessing some incredible things happening with their own eyes. Well, other than feeling shocked by the fact that Joshua had ripped the dimensional rift with his bare hands, the old wizard would still need to bring the news about the returning of the three back to the Empire as soon as he could.

After bidding their farewells, Joshua had once again returned to the room that the dwarf had prepared for him. He entered the bathroom and took off his heavy armor. After dislodging the blood-soaked clothes off his body, he soaked himself in the special hot tub near the lava area. He could feel all his tiredness being washed away by the warm water. He could not help but feel relieved, letting out a big breath.

"While I was in the state of the King of Searing Soul, I seemed to have sent back all the souls and people from other worlds who accidentally went to the Karlis world." Soaking himself in the hot tub with steam filling the entire space, Joshua muttered to himself, "As for Ying, shouldn't she be awake by now?"

"Well, after having some serious thoughts about it, I think Master had not really done anything much other than killing a lot of Aragami when he was in the other world."

Ling who had been standing by the side picked up the battered armor and threw the clothes that were already badly torn into the basket. After that, he passed a set of new clothes to Joshua. Well, a Divine Armament with a soul inside had no need to clean himself up. So after he was done with the necessary chores, he just remained standing by the side of the hot tub as he looked at the Warrior washing himself up. After that, he let out a gentle sigh. "I hope my sister can wake up now. Or else, all the battles would have been for nothing."

Upon hearing those words, Joshua remembered about something. He turned his head over to look at his own Divine Armament and asked in a tone filled with curiosity, "Ling, after killing that many Aragami, do you have the feeling that you've attained higher tier now?"

"Me?"

Ling blinked and frowned. Then he closed his eyes as he was attempting to sense the status of his own body. "Hmm… It seems that I'll still need a little more. Not much… I'm almost there… However, it's really strange though. Theoretically speaking, I should have killed enough of them to advance into higher tier by now. After all, we've killed over ten thousands of them…"

Upon saying that, the young Divine Armament crossed his arms over his chest as he was puzzled by his current situation. "So how come it's still not enough?"

It seemed that the 'King of Searing Soul' Mode did not only deplete Joshua's experience points but also his Divine Armament's. Regardless, Joshua had thoughts to make some time in the future to kill more daemons so that Ling could earn more experience points and advance into higher tier.

Upon nodding slightly, Joshua had found the answer to Ling's question. After making a remark in his mind, he no longer paid attention to that matter. Instead, he relaxed his body in the hot water and enjoyed the rest of his day after the battle.

*****

The next day.

In the conference room.

Joshua had generally told Nostradamus about his experiences back in the other world.

From the very beginning, he accidentally entered the Karlis world, breaking through layers of Chaos mist, encountering the rain of steel-essence crystals and the moving fortress. After exploring the moving fortress, he and his friends had met A.I 03, followed by the encountering with the Aragami. Joshua did not hide any of the truth about those part of his 'adventure'.

He even told the old mage that they had battled against Supreme-tier Aragami afterward, and under the support of 03, they managed to slay the monsters.

Well, Joshua believed that there was no reason for him to conceal the truth about all that. By telling the truth out to the public, it would also help boost his prestige in the public.

Of course, he did not expose the fact that he had been chosen by the world. He did not tell the old wizard that he had temporarily entered the form of 'King of Searing Soul' and hacked the other three Supreme-Tier Aragami, causing their demise. It would be too unrealistic if he ever told him that. Even Joshua felt that it sounded like a dream that no one would actually believe.

Anyway, at that time, everyone else had been buried underneath the rubble. No one managed to see the process of him battling those Supreme-tier Aragami. So naturally, he just simply talked about it.

However, one would be deemed heavenly powerful to be able to slay only one Supreme-tier Aragami- Joshua could tell by looking at the expression on Nostradamus's face, seeing that the old mage was completely shocked by that news. His eyes widened as he was holding the handle of the chair firmly with his right hand which he wore three magic rings. His grip was so strong as if he was about to break the handle of the chair.

"With my current strength, it is unlikely that I can slay one Supreme-tier Aragami while being surrounded by that many Aragami."

The old wizard murmured, "In a world filled with Chaos energy, the impact of magic power would definitely weaken… It seems that without being a Chaos Guardian, without the Azurite, no one would have done it better than you, not even a Supreme-tier warrior."

As they were talking about that, Nostradamus was a little puzzled at the moment. He paused for a brief moment and continued to ask, "However, there is a complete world on the other side of the dimensional rift. Is there no Legendary-tier Aragami?"

"There definitely is."

Joshua straight away answered, "However, a Legendary tier is the strongest existence under the gods. Even if there really is, it should be roaming around in the void with the Evil God. It will not stay in a world that had been corrupted by Chaos, a world that was waiting for its end to come."

Afterward, Joshua gave it some thoughts again for a moment and said, "If I did not guess it wrong, the Supreme tier is deemed to be the most powerful being in that world. Upon eliminating it, the dimensional rift will be peaceful for a few years at least from now—I believe that you can also sense it, that the fluctuations in all the nearby rifts are being stabilized. If there are no accidents, you should be able to perform fixed-point teleportation by now."

"Indeed." Nostradamus could sense a little bit as well, then he nodded. He did notice that, "In this way, the four territories in the northern land that are isolated from the center of the Empire for over 400 years will finally be able to be included in the Teleportation Passage Network now."

For the Empire in the North, because they were unable to build a teleportation passage that could connect to the main network of that system, the four territories were considered as spots that were outside the center. So there was no way for the Empire to get hold over the territories. Only the places that had a Teleportation Passage with the capability to swiftly transport beings or objects that were high-Tier in combat power can be deemed as real territories of the Empire.

The following discussion was more toward the cost of paving the Teleportation Passage and the roughly determine the policy in commercializing the Teleportation Passage along with some business partners taking part in that process. The discussion only involved talking about the direction of how the Teleportation Passage and its policy would affect the place, roughly speaking. So the discussion was not long; it ended rather early.

*****

The next morning.

On the ground beside the Volcanic Lake, the knights were wearing silver-white armor as they were following their baron from behind, holding on the leash around their war horses, waiting for their baron to give his command.

There were thirty-two Silver-tier mages from the academy right beside the knights. The wizards were wearing silvery-white robes with silver linings. Three to five of them were formed into one small group, standing on the black ground, discussing academic matters.

They were all waiting.

"Next time, if there is another chance, let us talk about the magically enhanced armor."

Right before their formation, Joshua was bidding his farewell to Moreila and the others. He then gave the old dwarf an invitation. "I'm very much looking forward to seeing your workmanship. If it is you who is going to forge it, the item should surely be able to reflect every single design and effect that was laid out in the schematic."

"When I have dealt with most of the significant affairs involving my people, I'll surely pay a visit again."

Moreila was brushing his own beard. The metallic rings that were stuck on his beard were colliding into each other, causing the sound of 'cling cling'. He smiled and said, "The Teleportation Passage will be set up real soon. I hope that we can still cross paths and meet each other again someday in the future. Well, maybe I'll only need to pay a small amount of fee in order to get here. I might not need to ride all the way over many days anymore."

Meanwhile, Clyre was standing right beside the old dwarf. She did not intend to follow warrior back as well. According to the elven druid, she would continue to travel over to the other parts of the north to spread the sun vines seeds and to purify the lands that had already been contaminated by Chaos.

"This incident has made you waste so many of your precious seeds."

Joshua was expressing a little regret for the green-haired elf and said, "If it wasn't because of the steel-essence crystal that I brought along with me, you would not have been sucked into the dimensional rift."

"That matter is not under your control. So it's nothing. Besides, it's an accident. That's not your fault to begin with."

Clyre was not bothered by that matter anyway. She looked at Joshua's black hair which a small part of it had turned white. Then she shook her head and said, "On your side, in order to protect us and the fortress, you have exhausted quite a lot of your vitality to battle against the Supreme-tier Aragami… I should be the one thanking you."

Upon saying that, the elf smiled and said, "About this case, I've informed my family in the far South. The fruit of the Ancient Tree of Life has a powerful effect to remove fatigue such as yours. Please do not refuse to accept the treatment when you arrive."

Why would Joshua refuse? The fruit of the elves' Ancient Tree of Life was deemed to be a supernatural magic fruit that carried effects that would permanently increase attributes and Maximum HP of the person who consumes it. Even in his previous life, he definitely would not get to taste the fruit even if he wanted to.

Joshua vaguely remembered that for the first time in his previous life when he ate the fruit of the Ancient Tree of Life. Well, he got to taste it because he had helped an elven clan from Green Wasteland to kill a green drake which had evolved into a Wind Elemental Lord. Upon completing that quest with the grade 'Perfect', he had acquired three fruits of the Ancient Tree of Life.

And since the elf was offering him politely, he would definitely accept the offer without a doubt.

Shortly afterward, right at the center of the formation, Nostradamus started casting the spells for a large-scale teleportation, getting ready to teleport him and his students back to their place.

The dark blue energy waves were beginning to spread into the surroundings with the old wizard as the center point, covering over the knights and wizard's apprentices. The energy waves were looming, followed by the forming large and complex pattern of a magic circle on the surface of the ground. Nostradamus maintained the magic circle and it seemed that he could still talk while he was busy maintaining the magic circle. He spoke calmly, "We can depart anytime."

After hearing that sentence, Joshua then bid farewell to Moreila and Clyre before returning to the same position as his knights. He then brought his warhorse along and stood right before his Knights.

The magic power brewed and trembled. The dark blue energy waves began to warp the space all around them.

Starfall Year 832, the 3rd of March, 9.22 a.m.

After a dimensional warp, the warrior found himself in the main city of Moldavia.