Chapter 22: Friend, You've Kicked an Iron Plate!
The sky was covered in snow and frost, the sun hidden without a trace, with only faint specks of weak light flickering behind the gray clouds, emitting a dim yellow glow.
This was the winter of the Northern Lands. Except for a few days, the sun could hardly be seen here most of the time, and the sky was forever this gray-white appearance.
But it was beginning to change.
In the distant clouds, where the sun set, a faint blue-gray point of light faintly appeared.
This light was not particularly bright, barely a shade brighter than the sunlight filtered through the clouds. But as time passed, the point grew closer and brighter, and the blue-gray light gradually tinged the clouds with color, standing out conspicuously against the surrounding gloom.
"Not slow. It'll be here soon."
As a former Legendary Warrior, Joshua was exceptionally sensitive to the energy fluctuations around him. Sensing the elemental ripples constantly stirring in the atmosphere, the breeze of energy brushed against Joshua's body, causing him to clench his fists involuntarily.
On the Mycroft Continent, the air was filled with strange energies like Arcane Power, Psionic Energy, Life Energy, and Elemental Force. Any race with a physical body and soul could potentially sense these forces.
Although the time required for sensing and the direction of expertise varied depending on the race, there was no doubt that no matter how talented a lifeform was, if it hadn't passed through [Enlightenment] and gained control over its own and nature's power, it could never advance to Black Iron and take the first step toward becoming a Transcendent Being.
Arcane Power, Psionic Energy, Life Energy, Elemental Force... Only by mastering these powers could one be considered a professional. Otherwise, one would forever remain an apprentice, a mere mortal.
And humans, as the most famous Black Iron race, could, with diligent training after reaching adulthood, mostly enter the Black Iron rank. The best among them could even touch the triple boundaries of soul, body, and technique, and by controlling Transcendent Energy, completely break through the limits of humanity.
This process was called [Radiant Soul], because the soul of a professional at this rank would continuously grow while using power, even forming a blazing light visible to the naked eye. Under its radiance, it could even burn the bodies and souls of ordinary people.
And next...
"A Gold-rank enemy."
Joshua said in a low voice. Though serious, he showed no fear. A grin tugged at his lips, and his expression was eager. "One of the Wilson Family's hidden hands, Nolan's elder brother."
If a Silver-rank professional could still be considered a 'human' who had surpassed human limits, then a Gold-rank was undoubtedly a true Transcendent Being in the most literal sense. Their bodies had begun to be reshaped by energy, immune to disease, indifferent to heat and cold, capable of regenerating severed limbs and flying freely, with no vital points except the head and energy core—these abilities were not the hallmark of Gold-rank, but the most basic foundation of their Transcendent Body.
Although Ying's Psionic Energy body was essentially very similar to a Transcendent Body, and when Joshua used [Divine Power], he could even overpower weaker Gold-rank in pure strength, there was one thing they absolutely couldn't compare to a Gold-rank powerhouse: [Glory Force].
This power was a [Miracle] belonging solely to one person. Unlike Arcane Power, Psionic Energy, or Battle Qi—forces that all life could train—it was unique and individual in this world, bizarre, contrary to common sense, and impossible to achieve through other means. Legend had it that a vampire, upon reaching Gold Glory, had even gained the ability to stop time for a certain period.
Of course, this was just an unreplicable exception. But whether from the perspective of basic attributes, soul strength, or control and use of energy, Gold-rank surpassed Silver Peak. Combined with the ability to fly freely and Glory Force, they could easily crush dozens of lower-rank enemies.
And now, a fully armed Gold-rank powerhouse was vibrating the elements, rapidly flying toward the main city. The blue-gray light surrounding him gradually approached, oppressive and heavy, with a stormy feeling filling the atmosphere. His target was undoubtedly Joshua.
Boom, boom, boom—
The atmosphere was torn apart, producing thunderous sounds. Joshua, however, no longer paid attention to the distant light mass where a figure could faintly be seen. He simply opened the system.
[Lv30 (3817/6200)]
He gently clicked, releasing the experience from the achievement.
Three thousand points of experience were injected. The numbers in the system rapidly rose, and finally, the experience bar was filled. A flash of crimson light gradually surged beneath Joshua's skin.
[Lv31 (617/8000)]
Gold-rank. No radiant light burst from his body, no energy overflow shattered the bricks. At the moment of advancement, the expressionless warrior instantly controlled the surging power within him, effortlessly reaching the Gold Realm!
At the same time, a wild and mighty will descended from the sky, sweeping across the entire surrounding area. Like the pressure of a deep sea, it focused on Joshua.
"Boom!"
With a loud tearing sound of the atmosphere, the light figure in the sky plummeted straight down. A murderous intent mixed with fury completely locked onto the warrior. Without unnecessary words or any desire for communication, the Gold-rank warrior who had traveled from afar, finding all his pawns and subordinates either dead or fled, quickly identified the source of his plan's failure.
This 'Silver-rank warrior' standing in the middle of the street, neither fleeing nor dodging!
Battle Qi around him ignited into light, air currents twisted, white light waves swept through the atmosphere in bursts, even forming cone-shaped white mist. The Gold-rank powerhouse, exceeding the speed of sound, descended from the sky and punched through the air. Instantly, a gale condensed into a huge light fist, accompanied by a fierce roar, striking at Joshua, who stood motionless—this was a crushing fist that manipulated air, vibrating at extreme speed. Under high-frequency air fluctuations, even steel, if hit, would be easily torn apart into countless fragments!
"Chi."
Suddenly, a flash of crimson light passed. The massive light fist abruptly collapsed. The overflowing air currents swept away all the brick fragments and dust on the street. The Gold-rank powerhouse sharply changed direction, twisting his body, as if to dodge an invisible attack.
"What the hell?!"
Landing slowly on the other end of the street, under the Gold-rank warrior's suspicious and uncertain gaze, Joshua withdrew his clenched fist. Substantial crimson light surged on it. The warrior raised his eyelids and stared at him. Instantly, a murderous intent filled with overflowing blood and death locked onto the Gold-rank warrior's body in turn.
Joshua spoke in a slow, clear tone: "Who gave you the illusion that I was Silver-rank?"
Then, he extended his right hand to Ying, who had been standing behind him with a smile all along. The Divine Mechanism Girl didn't hesitate for a moment, gripping it tightly.
The wave of Arcane Power exploded with a roar. After a dazzling flash of light, a massive silver greatsword, larger than a human body, appeared in Joshua's hand. A black chain extended from the sword's hilt, and the other end of the chain wrapped around the warrior's right hand, sinking into his wrist.
"Enemy, you will become the first soul under my and Ying's hands since I advanced to Gold-rank."
Raising his hand, pointing the sword tip at the grim-faced Gold-rank warrior, Joshua, who had regained control of Gold-rank power, grinned, staring into his eyes.
"So, draw your weapon, and die."
---
A 3400-word side story written after spending a whole day in the hospital for colitis
There are connections between worlds.
Projections, links, twins, divisions... Of course, the most common is information transmission.
The reality of one world, through some unknown connection, transforms into information transmitted to the minds of certain people in another world.
They are called authors, scriptwriters, and... game story planners. Of course, you can call them writers, character designers, dialogue writers—it all boils down to the same thing.
Due to some unknown reason, a world with an extra transmigrator and an ordinary parallel world established a strange connection...
Real time: 2045, October 15, 5:23
Game time: Starfall Calendar 832, January 6, 11:07
Early morning, Joshua Jinglin got up from the bed in the martial arts hall, exhaling the stale air from his body.
This was the best of times. Fifty years ago, due to black technology brought by alien spacecraft, global productivity exploded. Various countries somehow fought a inexplicable war that nearly completely destroyed the surface ecosystem. Fortunately, Earth wasn't destroyed as a result. After the war ended, the survivors used black technology to rebuild society, and somehow, the Human Federation was established. Countless intelligent robots that would never betray replaced the laborious and complex construction work, ushering in a world of Great Harmony.
This Great Harmony era had both good and bad. The good needs no elaboration. For Joshua Jinglin, the bad was right in front of him—since genetic engineering could now modify physiques and mental systems could instill knowledge, even if having it didn't mean being able to use it, it could still be accelerated to this point. Who the hell would come to a martial arts hall to suffer and train?!
Thankfully, it was the Great Harmony era. Even though Joshua Jinglin hadn't received many disciples after his father's death, he didn't starve to death at home. Instead, he had leisure time to indulge in games.
"Damn it, those idiots in the guild..."
After waking up, the first thing was to run a few laps around the hall. While controlling his muscle movements to make his steps silent and as fast as possible, Joshua Jinglin angrily complained about the members of his game guild.
Yesterday afternoon, he led ninety-nine elite foot soldiers from the guild, forming a hundred-man group to challenge the field boss Wind Rider Snade in the Cangqing Wasteland—a Wind Elemental Lord evolved from a sub-dragon.
After fighting this bastard for a full twelve hours and cursing the game designers a hundred times over, everyone finally worked together, using the priest's battle resurrection to grind down this damn boss that would take to the sky at the slightest provocation.
Clearly just a wingless ground dragon, yet it could fly! And at three times supersonic cruising speed! What a scam was that?! Not to mention those old-timers in the guild weren't putting in any real effort at all, completely slacking off and goofing around!
Even now, just recalling it slightly, all kinds of unbearable memories rushed into Joshua Jinglin's mind...
"According to experience, the boss is about to enter the second phase at half health. Second group, move up, switch tank... Holy shit! Flying?!"
"Wait, don't panic. Archers ready, mages give them anti-magic barriers, penetrate the shield. Be careful of the boss's attack... **** Look at the head, it just so happened that as he clicked in, a post was marked red, pinned, and highlighted. They were all disabled types. Compared to ordinary template commoners and normal wild monsters, they had a huge gap. Elite meant average attributes 1.5 to 2 times higher than normal. Players were generally at this level. Excellent template was boss level, Leader template was regional big boss level, Transcendent template was the strong NPCs in the background, and Hero template, as the name suggested, was the various heroes and demon kings in the background... This Legendary template, just hearing it, was more high-end, classy, and upscale than the previous ones! Think about it, heroes were background-level, so what level was this Legendary template?"
[This lord named Joshua was also a noble. His territory was near the Great Aias Mountains in the Northern Lands, called Moldavia. I heard the old lord recently died, seemingly a conspiracy. He was now preparing to rush back to find the truth and inherit the title—I was currently building reputation with him, trying to become his teammate, preferably getting a knight title under him. When latching onto a powerful ally, you had to choose one thick enough to hold!]
For some reason, Joshua Jinglin always felt a strange familiarity. Not because they both had the surname Joshua (though not really), but some kind of instinctive intuition...
He looked at the post's update time—it was from a few days ago! This meant there must be a follow-up now, since the game's speed was much faster than reality.
Skipping over the simple replies like 'Awesome!' 'Want to latch onto a powerful ally,' Joshua Jinglin silently clicked to the next page...