Soul of Searing Steel

The Sixth Abyss—otherwise known as the Lava Inferno was closest to the Mycroft continent on a Multiverse scale, along with the Seventh and Thirty-Seventh Abysses. In the ten thousand or dozen thousands of years ago, there had been natural dimensional passageway linking them, but the Mycroft continent now existed independently, while other worlds were either fallen Abysses or eroded by Chaos and face destruction.

Joshua did not return to Fairyland straightaway after leaving the Seventh Abyss, heading instead to the center of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds. The warrior descended from the clouds and into the hub of the demiplane, walking amidst the building from the last era as he called for the arrival of the Commanding Will.

"…Successor. May I know if there is a problem?"

The Commanding Will answered the call by linking to the warrior in spirit. "You wish to ask when I could reactivate? The vacuum energy charge is under preparations and requires twelve million seconds. The time between teleportation would decrease by forty thousand seconds when the charge is completed."

"No, you've mentioned that before," Joshua said, shaking his head. "I'm here for something else. I have informed the various Legends of Mycroft regarding the truth of the Glorious Era. They would perhaps pick a time to visit you together soon."

"You wish that I…"

Joshua nodded before the Commanding Will finished, and spoke with a solemn tone. "Protect yourself. Right now, the Mycroft Continent has yet to completely unify under the banner of a single power. Accidents could happen out of discord over gains, and if some were to act over private grudges…"

At that, Joshua could not help remembering Barbarossa and Godard the Murloc High Priest, and said with a pained voice, "One way or another, protect the critical facilities and do not reveal it externally like you're doing now.

"It will be my bidding, Successor." The Commanding Will's voice remained unfettered in spite of Joshua's words. "It is my duty to serve the intelligent being on Mycroft, but to serve others I must first protect myself. Though I am an artificial soul, I could still accommodate to circumstances."

Just as the Commanding Will spoke in spiritual space, booming reverberations appeared around Joshua as the huge silver Glorious Era buildings began to slowly descend and sunk into the earth as dust rose into the air. Joshua could almost see that there were other tremendous metallic constructs beneath the thick soil layer—it appears that the surface buildings of the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds were just a single portion of the entire facility. There were other concealed parts beneath ground, where a stout energy shield shrouded them.

'That's about it,' Joshua thought. While he was willing to share the truth that he was privy of to everyone he knew, he could not guarantee that others held the same perspective. Therefore, to ensure that the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds would function as usual and not be destroyed by others deliberately, he must get the Commanding Will to undergo safety measures—it was elementary prudence.

Still, Joshua did not stay long in the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds. After bidding farewell with the Commanding Will, he left the demiplane straightaway for the Fairyland.

The Northern Empire's Expedition Encampment in Fairyland.

As Joshua returned from the edge of Fairyland's plane and arrived by the gates of the base, it was the divine armament siblings who welcome him with solemn and suspicious expressions.

"What is it? Ying, Ling?" Joshua noticed their unusual guise but did not pay too much mind, instead reaching out in habit to try to hug them. "Your faces don't look too well?"

"That's it!"

Instead, the warrior was greeted by the pairs simultaneous exclamation as if they had ascertained something.

"I could smell it!" The silver-haired girl and her brother allowed themselves to be embraced by Joshua, but Ying used the posture to get closer to Joshua for a sniff. "Master, you went to fight, right?!" She exclaimed alarmedly. "Damn it, why don't you bring us along!"

"The scent of Steel Strength exploding, and the scent of energy burning—he definitely fought!" Ling added beside them. "It was His Holiness, right? And Master, you actually went to the Abyss? Damn it, and you went alone!"

"It's almost time to go home," Joshua said, disregarding their topic. He could see Hill and Funa who were looking curiously from the main gates of the base at Ying and Ling's interaction, his superhuman hearing distinctly picking up their whispers.

"How many children you think we should have after we marry? I think two is quite fine."

"You-you-you-you… What are you saying! Don't think so far when we're not married yet!"

"What is there to be shy about… it's happening soon anyway."

It was an out-of-place conversation for middle-aged people, but come to think of it, while Hill appeared to be a youth it was in fact just a beautiful youth and a dragon rider who served for decades amongst the Leviathan Knights… Elven faces are deceptive as expected—just like dwarven faces, albeit in a completely different sense.

There was any other matter to handle in Fairyland, while other Legendary champions had also returned to their own factions and begun their discourse regarding the truths that Joshua had revealed. The ones left in the base were exclusively expedition members, who were now still carrying out daily investigations on the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds. Thanks to Joshua's request, the Giant God Warriors would also no longer interfere with their exploration. Things would certainly go smoothly from now on.

Hence, half an hour and an augmented teleportation spell later, their group had reached Moldavia amidst the farewells from the Northern Empire's expedition team.

Northern Empire, the Old City of Moldavia, the North.

Joshua and the others appeared from the portal on the roof of the liege's residence. There, he felt the scent of familiar soil and air, as well as that Zero-Three's Mana Network, each familiar stimulus helping him relax his spirit after his bout with Igor.

"I have returned to my domain… But it seems that I never managed such matters?"

Joshua reflected carefully and discovered that it was the truth. Since he defeated the rebellious troops led by his cheapskate uncle and reclaimed the right to rule Moldavia, he had only performed official duties seriously for two to three months before Ling took over his work. Zero-Three did so later as well—whenever Joshua brought Ling away to fight in other worlds, the artificial intelligence lady would keep the domain running.

His contribution to the land as Count, apart from killing beasts and certain individuals were probably less than Archbishop Artanis of the Saint Laurent's Cathedral. At least the old man would occasionally lead clergies to different places for patrol duties or as a voluntary healer, while wiping out cultists and fallen ones.

Still, Joshua felt no hint of guilt and instead find it natural. His hands-off approach was in fact the greatest contribution to Moldavian territories—if he really did grasp his power and made rulings on all matters, who knows what the place would look like now.

Now, Hill, Funa, and the divine armament siblings stepped out of the portal behind Joshua, the elven druid and dragon lady unwittingly gasping in awe. The pair had always lived southeast of the continent—the Leviathan City and elven forests of tropical warmth and therefore rarely saw the sights of the North. The entire land and the distant mountain ridges were all covered in frost and snow, while everything was pure white from beneath their feet up to the edge of their vision. The two could not help being awestruck.

At the moment, Joshua was paying attention to another aspect.

"I didn't pay attention for some time, but I never thought that the construction progress would be so quick." He strode towards the edge of the roof and overlooked the distant New City zone that was slowly constructed, and nodded subconsciously. "Much faster than I've thought."

Moldavia at present was completely divided into two parts—one was circled by the original obsidian city walls and an elevated urban area, or what was the original main city area. The other was a city zone being expanded in all directions with the original main city at its heart, upon a surface which was relatively lower.

Due to the draconic plague and cultist rampage a while ago, most population who lived in forest and mountain areas around Moldavia began to gather towards the direction of the main city, causing insufficient capacity for the urban population. Additionally, according to Joshua's planning, the main city would have much more new amenities built for the four main city zones. Now, there were almost a hundred thousand new citizens who had settled here, and there was also the part where Joshua mentioned that he felt moved about: most civilian facilities had been finished, enough to accommodate the needs of a sudden booming population.

Of course, that was not the most important point.

"So, mana facilities have been comprehensively popularized as well."

The Moldavia before Joshua was now completely different from when he first returned to the North five years ago, whether it was the upper city zone or the new lower city zone. On both sides of streets and alleys, brand new pyroxene street lamps had been raised tidily. Though it was winter, there was no dark smoke wafting out of the chimneys of houses since the unified ground heating system is used across the entire city. Around the city, three branches of Winter Fort Academy had opened, with many young children and youths diligently training and learning corresponding knowledge within the college square and the campus buildings.

It was now made compulsory for virtually all children and youths of certain ages to undergo innateness examination and class training. Thanks to their liege, the Moldavian government never lacked funding or resources—even without those, the aid from the Central Government of the Northern Empire was limitless since it was impossible for Israel to be parsimonious on such aspects.

Through his energy vision, Joshua could see that there were three giant magical cores operating under the city, huge engines that were originally used to move entire cities which construction Zero-Three had presided over. They were supplied considerable energies from the mana crystals excavated from the Pawprint Lake, compensating for all civilian and public energy consumption while spreading controllable mana radiation within effective areas, improving the mana adaptability for everyone within.

Now, the shape of a civilization with magical technology is visible… Joshua felt exponentially pleased by the sight which should have appeared ten years later—his arrival had, without question, brought forward the entire world's development. After all, the Draconic Plague did not cause much damage apart from the slightly significant casualties in the Far South, with the sense of danger instead encouraging the development of new technologies.

In just a few more years, the well-prepared Mycroft Continent could soon reach a level equal to the world of Karlis—or perhaps more, thanks to the existence of Legendary champions. The intelligent beings of this world never had to worry about the issues of developing new and greater technology, only how to adapt the champions' power for civilian and widespread use.

"Let me give it a little push."

Standing upon the top level of the liege's residence, Joshua took out the Amber Pole out of nowhere. He opened it—the greatest Midgardian creation that could stop time—and took out the Droplet, a sacred item the Sage left behind in bygone days. Though it appeared light, the Droplet felt as heavy as a mountain in Joshua's hand since the Amber Pole both froze time and isolated its mass. Still, such a weight was not even comparable to dust for the warrior, and he simply flung the sky-blue sacred relic into the air.

The gales of winter never ceased in the skies of the North, with the air currents that were mixed with snow and dust crafting one arc after another. The sun shone upon those natural crystalline bodies, refracting dazzling radiance—and now, a blue droplet arrived at their domain and was kept where it was by an energy, releasing crystal clear sky-blue splendor that formed a small energy vortex, hanging over the city.

Every mana-sensitive individual within the city subconsciously raised their gazes towards the sky. While their gazes may not be able to pierce snow, dust, and wind, they could still discern that brilliant blue light. Tremendous spiritual ripples changed the entire mana cycle within the North, and the aurora appeared in the heavens over Moldavia in broad daylight—

A domain was spreading.

It was a profound domain that once awakened the Midgardians as a psionic civilization, and now had returned to the home of its own creator. Though it could not perform at full power due to its presence in a different world, it still brought possibilities that the people could only dream of.

The blue vortex slowly faded. It was Joshua's power that distorted space and hid it in a safe spot, and yet the domain the Droplet brought did not shrink as a result. There were residual radiances in the skies—blue ripples, combined with winter sunlight, formed circles of faint-blue ripple patterns that unfurled towards the horizon, a sight that was at once beautiful and unique.

Meanwhile, as mana undulated imperceptibly, Zero-Three's projection appeared before Joshua. The artificial intelligence girl's image hung in the air, her gaze leveled at Joshua.

"Welcome back, my liege who always suddenly disappears."

"I'm back. Thanks for your hard work all this time, Zero-Three." Joshua said in return to the mild complaint.

Those were words that gave Joshua a strong sense of déjà vu. He had said them a great many times before, and the warrior could not help realizing how important were Igor's words.

It was definitively a long time since he paid attention to the people and the things around him. All along, he was concerned over the fate of the world, the Sage as well as the most profound secrets and truth in regards to the Multiverse. He looked up at the blue yonder, overlooking the future and yet never saw what was beneath his feet. Though this was how he—Joshua—lived, an occasional change was not a bad thing.

But just as Joshua was thinking how he should rest for a while and enjoy life, Zero-Three said with a faint but slight grumble, "Stop spacing out, Joshua. There are still two troublesome persons waiting for you in Winter Fort Academy."

"Who? What troublesome characters?" Joshua furrowed his brow as he escaped his pondering. "If I recall, all my enemies should be dead… How dare they seek me out even if they are alive."

"Not that kind of trouble…" Zero-Three rolled her eyes, resembling much of a human in doing so. "It's the Legendary mages Barnil and William. They have returned from who-knows-what world again, and had arrived here at once to wait for you when they heard the news about your return from an otherworld. They've waited for most of the day."

"From the looks of things, it's something urgent."