Soul of Searing Steel

Joshua reflected upon the times.

As the Lost Galaxy and the Galaxy of Beginnings were opened to the public through the Stargate; as the Dimensional Hubs of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds were built in various corners of the Multiverse; as knowledge of the Extraordinary powers became widespread and national literacy increased exponentially over the last twelve years, more and more people were determined to participate in the galactic expedition and to join the enchanting age of exploration.

Firstly, for the peasants.

Following the removal of the Dark Forests and uprooting of the Evil God of Fertility's corruption, fertile soil that occupied almost half of the Mycroft continent surface seemed to appear out of nowhere. After the Legendary champions joined forces to purge the Dark Forests, the plants and beasts that once existed within were crushed into mere dust, becoming fertilizer. The partnered management and development under two Legendary magical beasts and Shaggy, the foreign behemoth and assistant of the Nature's Magister, allowed for the establishment of a profound ration resource that supplied billions.

It had led to global prosperity in terms of basic resources, and the excessive agricultural development had even almost caused its subsequent decline. Farmers used to make up over half of the global population and were essentially directly involved in their work, but with the industrialization of agriculture through magical technology and large arcane machinery, only one percent of the global population were needed as farmers for a population over 10,000 times their size, leading to millions of farmers losing their vocation.

However, it was also really due to industrialization that the machine called civilization could operate at full capacity. With exponential technological advancement thanks to the Unified Archives, countless factories sprouted like mushrooms after the rain, and they needed not only elite educated workers, but also substantial populations who could be groomed as workers. All factories needed human resource, whether manufacturing light consumer products, heavy-industry raw materials, or super factories that built Void warships or huge vessels, and the jobless peasants were incidentally benefited.

After all, an industrialized civilization had to crush their old agricultural system, centralizing and organizing agriculture to ensure provision for as many as possible with the least number of people. The excess population of ex-farmers could hence be used as a cornerstone for industrialization It ought to have been a process of endless tales involving blood and tears, but logic was unnecessary when it came to worlds where Extraordinary individuals existed. With the forced reassignments by Legendary champions, the arrangements of priests from the Seven Gods Church, and the advent of the Seven Gods that compensated for every little detail of the great reformation, the civilization completed its transformation at almost no cost in the days when the Expedition Fleet dashed towards the Multiverse.

Indeed, the present-day Mycroft continent was now a realm of major industrialization with the convergence of the four major coastal industrial zones and the central agricultural circles. The formerly peaceful West Mountains zone, which had the elegances of old, was now a full-fledged heavy industrial zone—under the oversight of Emperor Romain, the dark subterranean reaches came to used magma as an energy source, while the dark elves and the grey dwarves who adapted to the hot and dark environment proved to be the best workers.

And there was now a warship production installation that became the largest military factory in existence where the Northern Empire once stood, thanks to the presence of the Void Tower and the East Barnett Highlands. Additionally, the rest of the far south was turned into the center for various light industries and processing factories, while the eastern plains were the production installation for spare parts and multi-precision equipment. The Garden of Truth, the largest laboratory for supernatural experiments under the jurisdiction of the Skypiercing White Tower, was also built at the banks of the Cerny which ran through the center of those flatlands.

The entire world had changed completely, even from their very skies. The land where nothing could be seen come night was now filled with undying lights everywhere.

That was the brilliance of civilization.

However, even complete systems of Void civilization industries could not completely cater for the total population. Though it was an advantage that the overcompensating technologies from the United Archives may have greatly reduced the number of heads required to operate industries and enterprises, it was a major incident causing millions to lose their jobs for the Mycroft people who have yet to expand.

In response, the united governments of Mycroft could only issue the decree for development and public use of the Stargate, grant permits for small private Void warships and open up the right to colonize, name and develop ungoverned realms, and implement a five-year long tax free policy for trade across the two realms—these bundles upon bundles of essentially freebies immediately attracted endless investors…or indeed, the so-called adventurers.

All at once, planetary merchants, galactic trade organizations, and private limited colonizers appeared everywhere, spreading from the Zeta Ram System to the Dimensional Hubs established on every other galaxy. In turn, various hubs were built, filling many planetary systems to cater for adventurers, investors, colonials, Void merchants, and the many secondary service industries that served those major organizations. While most would be unwilling to risk themselves in different worlds, did Mycroft lack adventurers, scouts and mercenaries from decades ago? Would those merchant groups, trade organizations, and developers that once spread across the Dark Forests have vanished?

Certainly not. They would simply change their name and equipment, swapping their drake mounts for private scout ships, resorting to disintegrator ray guns instead of crude metal blades, or use energy shields energized by combat aura, mana and various supernatural energies instead of thin fabric armor.

In short, the top level of hierarchy had pulled the middle level along, while the middle created a demand that moved the lower hierarchy as well. That was how the illogical Extraordinary civilizations changed everything, although a person was required to guide them as well.

Joshua could see that the wandering merchants embodying the name of the Mycroft civilization were making their way across the stars, confident that transgalactic trade was no more dangerous than conducting business while travelling through the Dark Forests back home. They were those who were ruthless or performed fair trade, with some basically committing daylight robbery, having their virtues met with brutishness or having their head just cut off… while such things were perhaps mere gentle shockwaves for major characters such as himself who overturned galaxies, it was indeed an age of momentum.

So, what should have been the goal of those adventurers?

To develop lands that had long known the edges?

To take to the skies that had long found the horizons?

To journey towards the Void that was already conquered by the Glorious Era?

No. This was not a motion for which Starfall Era Mycroft would reclaim the ancient territories of Glorious Era Mycroft, in which power and prestige would be handed down. In fact, it was a motion for creation of a new civilization's own path with the help of their predecessors—a process in which an adventurer would set foot in an unknown land and start a brand-new age of grand voyages.

There definitely would have been many who would rise, with innumerable champions taking the stage. Joshua believed that if this age would see more Legendary champions than any other age, should the present state continues for a few more decades, allowing Starfall to eventually reach the profound times of the Glorious Era.

Likewise, there were assuredly countless people sacrificing themselves and guiding this age of glory from behind the scenes.

Joshua turned towards his close friends and apprentices.

He saw Zero Three leading Ying, Ling, Black, and Light—the members of the Liege's Residence were now a part of the terraforming effort, relaying their know-how and experiences to various departments. Hundreds and thousands learned the basics from them, including climate control and the intricacies of landscaping.

Joshua also saw Karin, the daughter of a knight and a former member of the First Party. She was collaborating with her many coworkers in a vacuum lab on Zeta Ram to study the energy source for destruction. It was a more advanced form of research that energized disintegration rather than simply having it as a weapon, and was coupled with the guidance of Legendary champion Vahina, along with hundreds of core researchers and dozens thousand of research assistants who experimented day and night.

And their objective was to completely solve the problem of energy across worlds.

Joshua saw Nick the dwarf who had shown great interest in culinary arts in the past, and was now setting his eyes upon every cooking ingredient in the Multiverse. Having applied for substantial funding, he had gathered a major group of peers from his Winter Fort Academy days, including Bear the Hunter and other professional explorers, to research and make an inventory of all Extraordinary ingredient across the Multiverse. The process did not dull in comparison to the time when the sages of old tried a thousand different herbs in primitive ages to seek supernatural herbal medicine and potions from toxins and weeds. They had shown considerable progress, even finding brand-new replacements to many potion ingredients thought to be extinct in other worlds.

Joshua saw that the former hunter siblings had gone their separate ways. The elder brother, Ivan, was now the founder the Empire's Third Automaton Lab and working under the Strategic Wing of the Imperial External Exploration Department—in other words, a department directly under Joshua and Zero Three. His work was to develop various large construction machinery that could alter a planet's surface, his group having invented ninety percent of the machines that shaped the disc-shaped world. His sister, as expected of a prodigy, had reached Soul Mastery, and now accompanied Nostradamus the dimensional mage journeying from world to world, experiencing the traditions and norms of local civilizations and thereby establishing a firmer foundation for her path towards Legend in the future.

Meanwhile, Lisa the Draknoid, Syndicate the Former Balrog, and Zero One had formed an adventuring group that had travelled afar by now. Having received Ambassador Kvass's invitation, they headed for the Rund civilization, where they studied the signs left when Joshua himself subjugated a stellar-class Behemoth, as well as one massive planetary body after another—the Runds were a highly adaptable species who could survive even near a magnetar, having built observatories around it. The star itself whirled in boundless and astronomical levels of magnetism that unquestionably inspired both Lisa and Syndicate greatly, to the point where even Zero the Steel Elemental learned something out of it.

Therefore, in an alien civilization far removed from their home, the pair both broke through the thin sheet standing between them to stomp within Supreme-intermediate, finally joining the ranks of champions.

Finally, it was Joshua's most special apprentice—Arlwa, the seventh child of the former Emperor and now, a prince. He had been the only one who had not headed out for the Multiverse, returning to the Mycroft continent instead… and to the Imperial Capital of the Helgamoth empire.

Joshua saw that deep within the Morlaix Palace, the present Emperor and former second child with whom Arlwa shared enmity stood off against each other, with one sitting upon the Imperial Throne and the other before the seat of power.

"How does it feel becoming Emperor, brother?"

"Absolutely terrible, brother. I finally understand what Father felt back then now," Emperor Dimore Diamond answered his brother, his eyes narrowed and his tone flat, even showing hints of self-deprecation. "No payback, no free will, no fighting, not even an opportunity to act—when it comes to the throne, the ordinary would imagine that it is a pleasure, and yet it is such a constrain to the strong."

Even as he spoke, one could see that the youth who used to have handsome features was now a bearded middle-age man projecting an emperor's might and gravitas. He slowly rose from his throne and looked at his kind below, and said slowly, "I finally understand why I had the feeling Father was in such haste to ascend as god and dump the throne to me after he has sat here for decades—that old, duty-shirking bastard."

"Father did not shirk his duties—he has simply risen from the throne to a more profound seat of divinity. He now has to watch over an entire civilization instead of merely an Empire, and his responsibility would only become heavier and more suffocating."

A youth whose childish features have now became firm himself, Arlwa's body slowly rose before landing on an elevated platform where his gaze with his brother was level. "On the other hand, you can do whatever you want," he said serenely, "you are emperor and you have the right to do so."

Nevertheless, his words were simply greeted by a snort.

"Hah!"

Dimore glared at Arlwa coldly and sneered. "Who do you take me for—a tyrant? Arlwa, I'm ultimately a man who knows about duty and the purpose in protecting my charge—do not think that is only you who has learnt the meaning of heroism and fulfilling promises. I swore to protect the Empire as Father had done, and I would never go back on my word."

Arlwa lifted his brow while Dimore descended slowly from his throne, slowly moving lower. "Many have claimed that the most important part about being a hero is to be responsibile and to fulfill their pledges," the incumbent Emperor said as if talking to himself, "just as many would say that wise kings are those who are smart, who never allow for personal feelings to interfere with national policies, nor disregard the rules they have made."

"And I would say that it's all bloody nonsense. One of them is the central tenet of becoming a good person, and the other is the central tenet of being an Emperor—if even that cannot be done, they can never be considered a good person."

Dimore arrived beneath the elevated platform where the throne stood, while Arlwa landed on the floor of the palace once again. The Emperor extended his hand. A longsword materializing out of Steel Strength then appeared in his grasp, while the prince also breathed a sigh and his palm was now enshrouded with layers of layers of translucent air armor.

"The most important part about being a hero is the ability to become a hero, just as the most important apart about being Emperor is the heart to guide the Nation forward." Dimore's eyes appeared to be blazing with an inferno then. "If father could do it, then I can do it too," he growled. "And what I would do in time would certainly be much more profound than what that deified old codger has ever achieved!"

A formless breath emanated away from Dimore's body, just as Arlwa's own body projected a forceful presence of energy. The might of both men clashed, gusting a gale across the entire interior of the palace and yet, that gale remained in their forms and did not trigger any sort of alarm. Not even the handmaidens who were carrying out their cleaning duties nearby were jolted.

"Radical fellow. The years have not changed you at all."

Sensing that his brother still had the slightest edge in ability over himself, Arlwa's lips curled—it could have been either a cold grin mocking his prideful brother, or the simple delight of a champion meeting another champion.

Either way, all he did was clench his fists and he then said quietly, "So, shall we begin?"

"Let's end this," Dimore thus replied, and raised the blade in hand.

A blaze ignited, burning the curtains and stirring ripples that distorted light itself.

The palace intrigue that had involved two generations and lasted over a dozen years was at its final bow—no matter who came up on top, the two would have hence abandoned their personal grievances to head towards the age of the future.

Joshua took it all in.

He watched the new Emperor fight his own brother, watching as the palace conflict that had began from the last generation lead to the present conflict and the moment as the ancient Empire severed the final thread connecting itself to the past.

He could see the heirs of Israel darting across every direction. There were those who proved to be political failures and were forced to exile themselves to other worlds, choosing to develop new realms; there were those who brought along their younger brother and his four fairies and wandered the stars, just as there were those who were consecrated as a goddess amongst the innumerable male technicians in the Garden of Truth… each of them had their own destinies, and regardless of whether they were prince or princesses, they each had their journey to venture.

Finally, Joshua turned his eyes towards the infinite Multiverse.

There, the seemingly countless civilizations were surging upon boundless worlds.

The Knowers still wandered in search for legacies in need of safekeeping, whereas the Galaxy of Bloodbath remained deathly silent. That was perhaps the quiet night before the storm, although many civilizations remained at war in faraway, remote corners. They would rob and hate each other, vileness that consumed the stars, groups that countered violence with violence and could not be negotiated with.

War perhaps occupied most of history for intelligent civilizations and intelligent life. Even if they had arrived upon the Void where there was near infinite resources, the cycle of hate that would draw Evil Gods would never stop—the chains of grievances were still enforced while vengeful wills accumulated, and in the silent remains that none knew about, Chaos was piling, awaiting its coming day of advent.

The stars had their own paths.

The dark sounds that ended everything and all life became ever closer.

The Great Mana Tide had long since stirred and moved the wheels of fate for this era. In this sudden yet seemingly expected age, the power of destiny drove history. The stars swirled on, drawing streaks of bright illumination upon the Void, marking a trail upon the loyal records of time.

"It was the worst of times…"

Seemingly picking up the pungent scent of blood along with smoke from the cannon barrels, the warrior surveyed the Multiverse and smiled earnestly.

"…it was the best of times."

He could see that the final conflict was about to come. It would be the war to end all wars, the destruction to end all destruction.

He could see that there was light shining in the once unfathomable darkness thanks to his presence.

He could also see that he had a part in the alignment of stars.

And it was very bright.

As it should have been.

Joshua never once believed that he was a savior, nor did he fought to save.

However, he could not deny that the darkness had always incurred his displeasure, and that he would ignite a bright fiery light upon the unparalleled gloom of the Multiverse.

It was neither a crusade, salvation, nor some arbitrary guardianship. It was the personal resentment of a human being, an intelligent being, and a person who lived to fight against the masterminds who were bent on controlling everything.

"It's almost time," Joshua muttered, linking up to the faraway prayers and thoughts coming from Stellaris.

"Time to go."